Things change. And they will continue to.

I’m just curious, how much would one be willing to pay to “handle” a product? If a retail store knew you had no intention of buying from them, but decided to charge you $5 to touch something you would ultimately buy online, would that be fair? I wouldn’t think so.

It’s similar to the industry of consultants. Consultants usually do not sell products, but sell you the value of their ability to help you make decisions, whatever they may be. Retail stores deserve so much more from consumers. Consumers too often fail to recognize the VALUE of having a tactile experience prior to making a purchase.

This is pretty far fetched anyways. I think I’ve had less than five people in all of last year even ask if we had a D3, and all that seriously were shopping for one got to try it out.

This just happened again with my 10.5 f/2.8 fisheye last month (before the Nikon price increase). Ritz: selling it for $775. I went home and ordered it from J&R for $575. Ouch.

Plus, their web site sucks and returns all kinds of junk that doesn’t match my search. You can almost always count on them for the highest price on anything desirable to buy. I am shopping a D700 body now. They just recently started reflecting the Nikon $300 savings to price it at $2700. B&H: it is $2450 now. Ouch again! These are not small differences.

In many areas, Ritz is the only local camera store.

There simply are not that many mom & pop camera shops anymore because Best buy, Circuit City, Online Sales and Ritz put them out.

Although Ritz was part of the problem, they do have a purpose as a place you can lay you hands on a piece of equipment, try it and buy it immediately (assuming they have it in stock!) and not wait for shipping. Some people like this and do shop at Ritz.

I think their failure is two-fold, Firstly over expansion (as one poster mentions above) whether it was through opening new stores or acquisitions. Heck in Orlando FL, there is a Ritz in the mall and a Wolf/Ritz across the street several hundred yards away. I have never figured that out.

Secondly not recognizing the importance of online sales and being competitive, Ritz online would not entertain price matching with Adorama or B&H and in addition their stores would not match their online price?

I feel bad for tenured employees of Ritz as this will have to lead to economizing, store closings, employee layoffs etc. I’m sure they are stressed and my heart goes out to them and their families.

I do want to add that I live in Tampa Bay, Fl and several of the Ritz stores in my area provide excellent, friendly knowledgeable support including Clearwater and Citrus Park although from posters comments this may be in the minority!

My 2 cents.

Thanks,
Bob

They need to cut costs to remain profitable at the lower level of turnover, however, if they do this quickly they are still a viable business and won’t have a problem getting alternative credit to meet their current debts. However, they need a bit of time to restructure so they file for protection in the meantime.

It’s a bit like running up a credit card bill that exceeds your monthly salary. You can move the debt on to another lender if you can show you will be good for it.

The big question mark here is can they restructure fast enough and hard enough to prove they will be good for the money, and is there enough credit out there for someone to lend them the money.

Although the specific reasons many of these companies fail can be attributed to factors beyond consumer spending habits, I can safely say we are all PART of the reason many of these businesses fail. Many consumers compare prices and usually buy from a company that offers the lowest price. Many consumers lose sight of the value of paying a higher price. There are many reasons one might want to pay a higher price, such as post-sale service.

Who do you ask questions regarding defective merchandise? Who do you ask for technical service? Who do you ask for basic advice on how to use your product more effectively? Or how about this one… Should I buy it from the friendly, knowledgeable salesperson that helped me make a good decision on what to buy? Or should I take money from his/her pocket by wasting their time, purchasing online and save $x.00?

I know most consumers are not interested in the overhead costs that retailers pay. Most consumers do not make a distinction between online stores versus brick-n-mortar stores. We do not see that operating a 100,000 square foot warehouse with 10 warehouse employees costs a lot less than operating 20 5,000 square foot retail stores, staffed with 5 employees each. Additionally, retail overhead costs in decent neighborhoods are much higher than warehouse overhead costs in blighted districts or superfund sites.

So the question consumers need to ask themselves are:
a. How much more am I willing to pay to buy it locally?
b. Is tax revenue important enough to buy it locally?
c. Is it important to support a local business (large or small), hoping to ensure they will be around to service your future needs?

Granted, not all local businesses deserve the support of a conscientious consumer. But many others do!

These companies are not bankrupt. They are have filed for protection from their debts but that doesn’t mean they are out of business. In both this case and Circuit City the companies are continuing to trade while restructuring and refinancing. They restructure to get the refinance, and they refinance to pay companies like Nikon who don’t want/can’t give them credit anymore.

It’s not good news but it is not a disaster unless you are one of the victims of the restructuring.

To quote them “A number of people have reported that Nikon’s $26M+ claim and Canon’s $13M+ claim against Ritz will result in a total loss to these companies. Not true.”

They explan why and how and it seems very credible, deliberately non-contentious reporting.

Of course, we have to wait and see. Perhaps Nikon should start a line of crystal balls….

Based on that, we should NOT see further price increases in the U.S. Today’s dollar is giving Nikon 5% more than they predicted.

For a physical store to survive the web (ignoring the economy for the moment), they must offer differentiation. If they can’t compete on price, they must compete on service. B&H does this very well. At a time that you think that physical stores might retrench, B&H doubled the size of their physical store. They have fairly knowledgeable salespeople (no minimum wage part-time kids working on the floor), decent prices and incredibly deep stock. You walk in there and they have up to 90 people working on the camera floor at any given time. I find that incredible.

However, the one thing B&H doesn’t let you do is open the box and try the camera that you’re buying. What they tell you is to open it at home and if it doesn’t work, to bring or send it back.

I think this is a very tough time for all physical retail. The web and the economy have conspired to kill off both chain and local retail. Some of them deserved it, because they provided nothing, but others did not. But now we’re going to have a lot of main streets and suburban malls with lots of empty storefronts. This is the price we pay for making buying decisions based only on the cheapest price we can find on the web.

http://rodgermitchell.com/

Spend a few hours there. This website is several years old and the book he’s pitching was first published in 1996, so don’t think this is just some whacko site that sprang up over night. Far from it.