Obviously you haven't been reading the literature, or noticed that every
manufacture with the expertise and manufacturing capability is trying to
get into the DSLR business, if there weren't high profits, there
wouldn't be new entrants to the field. There are also high costs so you
won't see any small players getting involved. The fact that Sony,
Samsung, Panasonic, etc. are entering the field alone should tell you
that. Just because the store and sales employee don't see much of it
doesn't mean it isn't there.
I hate to say back in the good old days but what the hell. When the
first wave of electronics began to replace mechanicals in SLRs in the
late 1970s, I was selling cameras, damn I was young then. I made most
of my income from Prize Money, manufactures would pay prizes for selling
particular items, usually it was paid to the store, but the company I
worked for passed most of it on to the employee. Cameras like the ME
and the Minolta XD which replaced a lot of precision mechanical parts
with electronics were quite profitable, based on the Prize Money paid
out and we sold boat loads of them. I don't doubt that the same holds
true of DSLRs.
William Robb wrote:
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "P. J. Alling"
>Subject: Re: The JCO survey
>
>
>
>
>>I assume that as with most electronic equipment there's a 40 point
>>profit margin built in initially. That may have changed since I last
>>had anything to do with a company that owned their entire pipeline
>>from
>>production to sales but I doubt it. The whole reason to concentrate
>>on
>>DSLR's is that they aren't commodity items, like P&S cameras, which is
>>where margins are razor thin. Assuming 40% markup over cost I'd say
>>they'll be making money when the price drops to $599-699. levels in
>>about 6 months if they follow the model used in most of the
>>electronics
>>industry these days. By then most of the new R&D should be recovered
>>and the cost basis will be lower as well.
>>
>>
>
>When I was selling cameras, there was almost no profit at all in SLR
>cameras, from manufacturing right through to the seller.
>I don't see how anything has changed that way in the last 20 years.
>
>William Robb
>
>
>
>
>
--
Things should be made as simple as possible -- but no simpler.
--Albert Einstein
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