During my lunch break I made a short trip through the city mall to one of the larger camera shops with the aim of looking at the Canon camera and lens I’d been researching.
I’d never buy something like a camera via the internet. I like to physically sight the item and hold it in my hands. More importantly, if something goes wrong then I know where to take it back and who to speak with. I was ‘burned’ some years ago when I purchased a mobile phone over the internet. It arrived all nicely packaged but I had a suspicion it was reconditioned rather than the stated “new”. It was a spare so I didn’t use it immediately. A few months later I took it out of the wrapping and plugged it in to charge the battery. That’s when it went “phizzz… poof” and I had a small, dead, electronic brick.
The salesman in the camera shop was giving me his sales pitch as I examined the camera. Canon were running “promotion” on their cameras which had reduced the price. The body was $1060 and the lens had a retail price of $2000, reduced to $1600 and with the Canon promotion it was reduced further to $1200. I informed him I didn’t intend to make the purchase until after Christmas. He then told me the Canon promotion may not be available after Christmas and the price might go back up. Not sure who he was attempting to fool… but it wasn’t me!
The retail industry is currently crying it’s their poorest Christmas season in years and that too many Australians are purchasing overseas via the internet taking advantage of the strong Australian dollar.
If it’s tough for the retailers now, then I have difficulty conceiving they will raise the prices after Christmas. Actually I’m expecting the reverse! There will be less cash in circulation which means more competition for fewer customers. Late January is the ideal time to look for a discounted price. Not that I expect the Australian retailers to be able to match the prices in Hong Kong.
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