[Leica] Why Leica is opening up so many stores

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

Some people appreciate having and using the best and with finance it anyway
they can.
 Maybe not super rich you can take a long time to pay off a Mercedes. And
you can drive one for a long time.
There are people apparently such as yourself who seem to always just want to
spend less finding something a little similar and cheaper.
A Chevy will also get you to the supermarket.
For every premium product there is a mid price option and often a low price
option. All kinds of options. Pick your price point. A Chevy cost what a
Chevy cost; not what a Mercedes cost and for real logical reasons.
Anybody with an interest in Leica knows that its been a premium product for
a long long time. You don't save money getting one.
Leica is not here to make you happy.
We'd love it if we could have a new M10 for 3 grand. If an X2 cost 80o
bucks. I'd be happy. Leica would be broke.
I think Leica needs to stay happy doing what its been doing for a long long
time. Making a second to none premium product in smaller amounts at a
premium price. I does do a thing with Panasonic putting their name on it and
selling them at much cheaper prices than an M.



- - from my iRabs.
Mark Rabiner
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/springdays/


> From: Douglas Nygren <douglasnygren at yahoo.com>
> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2012 16:54:35 -0700 (PDT)
> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] Why Leica is opening up so many stores
> 
> Leica thinks it can be like Apple and have stand alone stores.
> Maybe it can, but they Leica isn't Apple. Apple had a big followingbefore 
> it
> started to run its own stores.
> While Leica may have lost dealers, it's hard to imagine a dealer?buying 
> into
> the Leica system. What does that cost, half a million?Is there that much
> profit in new cameras? No. The win is in sellingused Leica gear.Dealers
> traditionally carry a broader range of product than just one line.In New 
> York,
> a dealer may be able to make it with one line of cameras,namely Leica. But 
> can
> a dealer in Cincinnati make it that way?
> Given the giant leap in Leica prices, how many of us are going to buy?new
> Leica gear? That means Leica is going to have to develop a newmarket--one
> beyond the collectors who have one of everything Leica foreach of their
> homes.?
> People like us, I assume, will be lured away by camera manufacturerswho
> produce a great product in range finder form. Think Fuji. Think the xpro 2.
> As I've written here before, as Leica increaes its prices, it opens itself 
> up
> to?be undersold: Fuji, Olympus, Sony come to mind.?
> Then again, maybe Leica isn't thinking long-term. Maybe it's just thinking
> American, which is to say short-term. Drive up the prices, increase profit
> margins, look good on paper, make an IOP killings and cash in.?
> Leica might reply: howwash. We sell everything we make in a bad economy. 
> Think
> what it will be like, wenn alles wieder in Butter ist, when everything is 
> good
> again. They may have a point.
> I'd feel better about their future if lurking in the wings was an 
> autofocus M
> with movie capability. Who know, maybe there is. Who knows, maybe they will
> introduce a mini M to sell to consumers the way Canon and Nikon does. They 
> may
> have "miracle" products in the pipeline, but given their history of 
> trailing
> the market, this may be more than a fantasy.
> For me, Leica is bcoming less interesting while Fuji is becoming more
> interesting. The new Nikon catches my eye as does the Canon 5D Mark III 
> with
> its high ISOs and silent mode. As it is, the M9 sounds noisy to me like the
> SLRs of yore.?
> It just seems to me Leica is no longer looking to photographers to buy its
> product. It is becoming a fashion statement. Pity is how many fashionistas
> will appreciate what fine glass they posses.?
> MFG-Doug
> 
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