Olympus Letting Go Of Reps in North America ????

[Jonathanp]

WTF?

My local rep is one of the only reasons I am still an Olympus shooter. We are less then three months from PMA and after the show they are pulling the reps? WTF? Anyways I plan to voice my concern at PMA, but this isn't good news for Olympus as far as I am concerned. If they had a big product to push they would need the reps? Unless they think that the new SLR is so good they don't need the reps. Anyone else have any information on this?

-J

[Mr. Pickles]

Where did your info come from? Haven't heard it....

[Paul Shields]

They'll always need some reps if they intend to keep selling in the US, so I'm sure they'll have enough to do cope. Olympus do some odd things now and again though, so anything's possible .

[Jonathanp]

I have confirmed this with my local rep. As of March 31st Canadian Reps are gone. I didn't ask if this was North America wide. If someone could check with a US rep and post back that would be great. This is not good news for Olympus as far as I am concerned.

[Paul Shields]

Originally Posted by Jonathanp

I have confirmed this with my local rep. As of March 31st Canadian Reps are gone. I didn't ask if this was North America wide. If someone could check with a US rep and post back that would be great. This is not good news for Olympus as far as I am concerned.

But what does that indicate though - no more sales in Canada? That would seem a litle unlikely.

[pixelseeker]

The cost of having sales reps traveling the country are really getting out of hand in relation to the amount of business they bring in.

Camera's now a days are being sold in big box stores and large camera stores. You don't need as many sales reps when you have large accounts like Circuit City or Best Buy. It's sad to say but the days of the mom and pop camera stores are long gone with a few exceptions.

Once a big box store gets their initial order all reorders are done automatically through computers. In the good old days the rep would come around every four to six weeks to tell you about some promo and take your order. Even the customer service personal are being cut. The computer generated orders are directed right to the warehouse for shipping.

I ran into the Olympus rep here in Madison WI just when the E-330 came out. We had a short talk about the camera business and he mentioned he had been with Olympus for over 20 years. If the rumor of the reps being let go is true I feel sorry for all the dedicated reps that will be with out jobs in a couple of months. Maybe some of the long term ones will still be kept on to handle the larger accounts.

[Jonathanp]

Originally Posted by PaulS

But what does that indicate though - no more sales in Canada? That would seem a litle unlikely.

I would assume that sales will continue.

[Jonathanp]

Originally Posted by pixelseeker

Camera's now a days are being sold in big box stores and large camera stores. You don't need as many sales reps when you have large accounts like Circuit City or Best Buy. It's sad to say but the days of the mom and pop camera stores are long gone with a few exceptions.

Sad but true I guess.

[Mr. Pickles]

I would assume that Pixelseeker is correct. Probably more an effort to pair back on the outflow of money. Perhaps Olympus believes that their forth coming cameras can "sell themselves".

Not bad thinking, but if there is a high-dollar, professional E-3 coming, you'd think more "camera stores" would sell them than a retail juggernaut chain. And the Mom and Pop camera stores would probably like to see a human bring it in and talk about it. Maybe not?

Time will tell....

[Jonathanp]

I hope that they have some groundbreaking news at PMA. So for that Mr. Pickles I hope you are right.

[Mr. Pickles]

In case anybody wants to know what is going on here:

http://www.marketnews.ca/news_detail.asp?nid=2444

[LJBD]

So, at the end of the day, Oly are going to use a distributor in Canada to handle specialist stores?

Phew, that's a bit different to sacking all their NA reps!

[Paul Shields]

Still seems alightly far-fetched when this year seems to be the one where they'll deliver some great products, and so you'd think they would want the reps out there trying to get a bit more market share. Then again, we faithful Oly fans have been saying that this year will be it for a couple of years now .

[Mr. Pickles]

I don't think it is a big deal. Sounds like they are cutting costs (supposedly?) by realigning the flow of camera equipment. back in the day (10 years ago?), you probably had to have reps to push your stuff to the mom and pop camera stores and the pros.

Nowadays, there are less and less mom and pops, and the pros are probably buying online at B&H or Adorama or elsewhere like everybody else. The percentage of pros vs amateurs/hobbyists/etc. is probably a lot smaller now too.

[DLGW]

Don't overlook that Canada is getting its own dedicated Oly service centre (in Markham, just north of Toronto).

That's a rather positive sign.

(Especially for me, since I'll need to send my E 1 in to get the rubber grip looked at soon)

[Paul Shields]

That is positive. I've been lucky in the grip thing so far - seems to be common but mine's still rock solid despite lots of abuse.

I'm personally *very* positive that there are going to be great things from Olympus this year. The E-400 to me shows that the sensor technology is there to match the lenses. I got the same feeling that I had from using a Canon 5D when I first saw 100% images from the E-400 - it really does capture a lot of detail, and a 5D + 135L (as an example) is both much larger and much more expensive than say the E-400 + 50mm (ignoring DoF advantages or disadvantages depending on your point of view ).

I think Olympus know what they're doing, despite the dismissive comments from those who think FF is the only answer (I don't count APS-C, as when we actually print anything above 4x6 the 4:3rds so-called sensor size disadvantage disappears due to crop ratios).* Bring on the E-2/E-3/E-whatever - which should be coinciding with annual bonus* .

[Jonathanp]

Ditto, my E-1 has been rubber-less for almost a month now. I am out in the west, but it sounds like Olympus is doing some good things with Repairs in general. [Flat pricing for one, instant quotes for another]

[jan56]

You are right, my E1 is in repair now for the rubber coming off - despite the camera is more than the 2 years now they are doing it free of charge
Also heard the same from a chap in Sweden - the theme of the rubber isn't really one, Oly does care ..
And regarding the reps? Seems reps are not really needed locally as lots of people import via internet anyway and the info of the camera data and experiences etc you get via forums like this anyway - is there anything your rep can tell you, what you didn't know from the net already?
Look at the little Video which Paul shared with us here, Oly is quite frankly of encouraging the people of buying abroad...