Camera Store - The Hell of Retail

From "What's Megapixels?" to "You got a P150? I'll take it"

The last couple of posts got me thinking about something that I think about every time I help someone pick a camera. And that is; How much research should a customer do before stepping into a store and buying a camera?

Once I was showing someone a bunch of digital cameras. She was going "The one looks nice, let me see it... Nah, I don't like it that much, it's kinda awkward to hold... How 'bout that one?" Oh, very nice. This is a Canon S1-IS, it's got 10x optical zoom, image-stabilized, three MegaPixels... and she says - and I swear I'm not making this up - "What's MegaPixels?".

That shows one end of the spectrum, where a customer approaches me not knowing ANYTHING about digital cameras. Of course, that means I get to "set the stage" for them, make some generalizations about manufacturers, explain all sorts of things that they will remember when they read up on cameras (like what "MegaPixels" means, why "digital zoom" is BS, different features, the market in general). Which is kinda neat, but if there is a long line of impatient customers waiting for me to be done with my little lecture (I am often the only salesman behind the counter), then I can't really have a nice leisurely chat about digital cameras, especially when I know it will not end in a sale today. (It does often end in a sale a week later, though, which is kinda rewarding, as is hearing "I thought I'd ask you all these things because you guys come highly recommended").

One of our mottos is "Our Expertise is Free". But please, do share... especially if there's a long line behind you...

The other extreme of the "How much research should a customer do?" spectrum is the guy who walks in and says "You guys got any Sony P150s in? I'll take one". Someone who has read up enough online about why this or that camera has the best features for the price and for the customer's taste should know that it's cheaper to order online... But sure, I'd love to sell you one. Makes my job easier, if less interesting. A more efficient use of everyone's time.

But the question is: Should a customer go to Consumer Report or Steve's Digicams or DP Review, do product comparison tables, read up on features, and choose a camera, all at home? Or should a customer just go to the store and ask the salesman? You might say that going to the store is a good idea to get a basic notion of what's out there and of what different features are (like MegaPixels). However, very straightforward glossaries exist online that explain these things.

I say, ideally you'd do all the research online and narrow it down to a few cameras, and then go to the camera store to pick them up and see how they feel so you can choose one after having played briefly with all of your finalists. I do realize that this makes the salesman relatively obsolete, reduced to the role of fetching cameras out of the glass case and operating the cash register at the end of the purchase. In other words, our "free expertise" is no longer required. I think that's the way a customer should do it. You're gonna trust a SALESMAN to tell you which camera to buy from him? Our expertise is free because we recommend the things that we profit from the most... Nah, not all the time, but sometimes.

It's like education. In a way, a teacher should not be necessary, and a student should be able to do all their learning from books and from observation, given they are already motivated to learn. Is that possible? Well, is it possible all shopping will be done online by comparing features of tables, that humans will be removed from selling altogether? Sounds good to me, but extremely unlikely.

Sometimes - heck, most of the time - at work I feel like a robot, working the cash register, taking in orders for developing film, cleaning the glass counters, organizing the shelves, going to the back to get that guy's P150. I'm just a machine. The only time I feel like more than that is when I'm telling someone about cameras, something that only I could say (out of all the people in the store) because I've done a ton of research about cameras, read SO MANY reviews and comparisons, used so many of them myself. I do feel kinda like an expert. But I should not be your ONLY source of information. Cuz then, who knows, you might go home to find out your husband doesn't think you need a 5-MegaPixel camera, and THEN where does that put us?

posted by Remus