baldysblog.co.uk

Journalists, Politicians and Pundits of various kinds will “cast the Runes” and come up with all their various predictions concerning the year stretching before us. It will be this or that…blah, blah, blah. The ones I feel sorriest for are the politicians trying their very best to strike the most appropriate pose and speak “the right words”… without leaving hostages to fortune.

Gordon Brown didn’t get the tone right and whilst I understand David Cameron’s comments about Brown and the Blitz, perhaps that wasn’t spot on either but then theirs is an ‘odd trade’ in many respects but whilst their “constant circling” like boxers in the ring is understandable, the events and potential outcomes though, may be very different from what anybody expects…

A True Personal Shopping Story…

Photography is a very important thing to me and 2008 saw both my main cameras considerably upgraded however, these are ‘serious’ tools which I only ever use manually so that I have full control and this has led to a problem from time to time. On family occasions, when mates drop in and unexpected and spontaneous moments, what you really need is a a high quality, point and shoot, ‘happy snapper’ and I promised myself that at some moment in time when both price and specification was right, I would buy one.

Although I have owned Fuji cameras, all my serious still and video kit is made by Canon and a few years ago when they first came out almost, I bought a Canon IXUS and basically it was a high quality, metal construction, very small, it would fit in the palm of your hand, point and shoot camera which in 2002 cost me £350 for a +2 mega-pixel camera. In fact, it was a great bit of kit which was later passed on to someone else.

Over the years, Canon have evolved and developed this concept in this part of their market so that today, there are probably half a dozen “IXUS variants” available at any one time.

A Real Deal

In late November and following a ‘sales’ email, I was browsing the web site of a supplier I have used over the years and totally trust when I came across a Canon IXUS at a ridiculously low price by which I mean a BMW for the price of a cheap FIAT and don’t get me wrong, I disrespect neither car makers but the point is, they don’t sit in the same “Market Price Point”, do they ?

The particular model on offer was the equivalent of my Canon G9 which is a very “serious” bit of kit, on a technical specification level for ‘output’. Of course it was not the equivalent of the G9 in terms of what a professional or serious amateur photographer would want in fact, it is a bit like a Formula One racing car but with a 3 speed automatic gear box might describe things best.

I checked the Canon web site which showed a ‘recommended retail price’ of £320 and I know that the camera manufacturers control prices because retail margins are very tight and nowhere as big as you might imagine. Most photographic retailers were selling at well over £200 and here I was faced with £117.43 all in including VAT, delivery and a bag for it.

Because it was a trusted supplier, I placed my order but just how “blindingly brilliant” this deal was became apparent today via another email link from the same supplier on Canon kit, the price is now £275.00 !

Current and Future Stock

It seems sort of obvious that given the current ‘perceived circumstances’ retail sales outlets will discount existing stock to generate income and clear their ‘inventory’ but given the floating/falling Pound Sterling, when they restock, prices will go through the roof and this story seems to underline such a point.

However, is that true ?

The reason I pose the question based upon a future idea for earning money, is the following:

I have an idea to see if I could sell derivatives of my photography and montages as limited edition original prints. Now there is an amount of technology involved in this which will require me to spend quite a lot of money on a professional/commercial ink jet printer and the consumable supplies to support it.

However I haven’t identified or tried to develop a specific market and am still evolving the final or even, initial “product” so, there is little point in buying in a “production unit” until that is done. As it happens and vintage 2002, I have a very similar printer already except because it is of an earlier generation, it cannot deliver the “colour fast prints” or handle lots of different thickness media to print on.

But leaving that aside, it can do the size and set up tests so that when I’m ready to buy a modern printer, I can take the same files and print them out on it. Now whilst I have some stock for this, moving into ‘development mode’ I need to buy in some more supplies. With this in mind, I can tell you that this very day, I have bought materials at a 50% discount to the UK price from a supplier in – Germany.

Nothing Is True

Governments may try many things to shore up their personal positions or economy but in the real world, it is not within their power to determine too much that cannot be overturned by individual decisions.

There are Manufacturers, Wholesalers, Retailers and Consumers. However you look at it, the Consumers are ‘king’, all else serves them. If a retailer sells his goods into the UK for -50% on the manufacturers “list” and he is the only person still ‘doing a volume of business’, he can change and remodel the market.

But if when I am ready to buy a new printer, whilst my expectation is based upon one supplier/brand, I am aware of others who providing that they can give me what I need, might well become “the one”. Also as Woolworths and others go to the wall and retail sites in the High Street go ‘Dark’ all that signals is a time of change and evolution.

Whilst I may envisage what that might lead to, I will outline that later and in another blog.