Canon has announced another batch of camera price reductions, and has taken the major step of withholding recommended retail pricing (RRPs) from publication.
RRPs have been dropped on 25 key DSLR and digital compact camera SKUs. The price drops have been on a case-by-case basis, and range from 5 to 17 percent.
In August last year Canon announced price reductions on 95 products, ranging from 5 percent to over 20 percent. At the time Canon’s Jason McLean explained that the move was made to support local retailers.
He said that the inroads made into local digital imaging sales by offshore online sellers was ‘one of the considerations, not the driving force’ in deciding to lower local prices.
‘Regarding RRPs, we’ve taken a decision to no longer publish them as we do not want to disadvantage the local market through misleading price comparisons,’ a Canon spokesperson told Photo Counter late last week.
‘As Darren discussed with you in the interview, (Photo Counter, March 8), there is only one price that matters in the market: the price actually paid,’ said the spokesperson.
Darren Ryan, general manager, Marketing, Canon Australia Consumer Imaging said in that interview with Photo Counter that local pricing was now competitive with the US: ‘I’d ask you to go and have a look at the price consumers pay – for DSLRs particularly – for their products overseas and compare it to the actual price the consumer pays at the shelf in Australia,’ he said. ‘I think you will find in most, if not all instances, our pricing is quite competitive against the US.’
Canon says that RRPs are regularly used to present unrealistic price comparisons with actual selling prices in other markets. Canon is not unique in withholding RRPs; Nikon does not supply RRPs for its professional camera gear.
‘Canon Australia believes that there is good value to be had in local retail stores and that consumers and market commentators should go in-store to evaluate for themselves based on the prices actually paid in Australia.
‘The issue is the consumer,’ the spokesperson continued. ‘From that perspective the media is failing their readership if they do not provide “transparency” around actual market pricing. Take the EOS 5D Mark III for example – the Australian media focus was on RRP $4399 versus US pricing, despite the fact that there were a range of actual prices in the Australian market starting from less than $3900.’
He concluded by saying that from a trade perspective, encouraging consumers and media to go in-store to see the real value on offer would be a welcome move toward keeping business on-shore.
I do not think this initiative will, in any way, make a substantive difference to consumer behaviour. The latter is now far too savvy to accept the rationale offered for this step which does seem to be more intent on ‘protecting’ Canon then it might their resellers. I do not accept the claim that Canon prices here compare favourably with those in US as advertised online. It has as much to do with currency fluctuations as any other factor. Moreover, this initiative begs the question as to why NOW has Canon decided to make their pricing ‘global friendly’. Just a further signal to the consumer that for too long the supply chain into the Australian market has been ‘supplier friendly’. Last Tuesday I ordered some gear from US. It cost A$850 landed whilst locally it would have been about $1250. Ordered Tuesday arrived Sunday morning! I do not like doing this but have no choice. Ironically, I was able to make these purchases because the previous week I had spent A$330 on landed product sold here for about A$457 and so used the savings to buy again. Moral there somewhere.