I have a small shop.. I really wanan sell fujivelvia etc. there. Wh odo I contact?

[BrianShaw]

...which is exactly why I gave the US Fuifilm office information, and suggestion that Sales or Marketing could direct them to the appropriate direct sales or distributior (sic).

I’m finding it odd (disingenuous?) that this notion appears to have been rebuffed twice by the information requestor - once when generically suggested and again after spoon-feeding.

 

[AgX]

???
After being given the advise by wiltw the OP did not post again at all. How then can one say he rejected that advice? Even twice?

 

[BrianShaw]

If you insist... I will restate. Thank you for recommending clarity.

I’m finding it odd (disingenuous?) that this notion (identifying and contacting the official Fujifilm distribution folks) appears to have been provided twice to the information requestor without comment - once when generically suggested (post #2) and again after spoon-feeding (post #10).

 

[MattKing]

As I understand it, in the US there is a single, main distributor for Fuji products, although I expect that small vendors may get stock from intermediate distributors who specialize in that. I would have suggested contacting Fujifilm USA and asking how you can get stock for your store. It would be a good idea to give a sense of how much stock you would need. They may very well refer you to one of those intermediate distributors.
Here is their support contact form: https://www.fujifilm.com/us/en/consumer/support/film-quicksnap/contact

 

[wiltw]

Coming in defense of OP, the OP might have contacted Fujifilm in NY, and due to COVID the usual people are not in the office but working from home, so the call might have dead-ended there. And if there is someone who might refer OP to an independent distributor handling sales to small retailers who are not usually directly handled by Fujifilm itself directly, perhaps the person working from home does not have contact information handy for that distributor. Or that distributor is dealing with COVID absentee workforce, too.

I broke a tree limb pruner made by Fiskar, who (via direct experience in the past) I know do make good on their lifetime warranty. Due to COVID, all calls are unanswered in their US offices, so an inquiry to them has resulted in zero response from them to my claim of product failure. I chalk up this experience to COVID...I know how they handled things (superlatively) in the past. But efforts during the past year had dead-ended in my seeking resolution to the product failure.

 

[BrianShaw]

Anything is possible, wiltw. I’ve been amazed that customer service seems to have increased with folks working from home. For a variety of reasons I’ve spent a lot of time with customer service reps (both commercial and US government) in the past 3 months... and I’ve been really happy with the interactions and speed of service. It’s sad that Fiskar is not keeping pace... they have great products. Can a local retailer honor the warranty?

 

[wiltw]

It’s sad that Fiskar is not keeping pace... they have great products. Can a local retailer honor the warranty?

The problem might simply be that for the past year the failed pruning stick has had the "Out of Stock" status on it, including when I checked a moment ago! Under that circumstance, I cannot imaging a retailer taking out of their sellable inventory, when Fiskars cannot replace it at no charge to them!

 

[BrianShaw]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but this one? If so... what failed? This is my favorite tool!

https://www.fiskars.com/en-us/garde...g-stik-extendable-tree-pruner-79-12-92406935k

 

[radiant]

It’s sad that Fiskar is not keeping pace... they have great products. Can a local retailer honor the warranty?

Sorry off-topic, but as small Finn I feel proud seeing stuff like this online We have tons of Fiskars products in local shopping malls. Their branch cutters and axes are just brilliant. And scissors too.

Back to topic: it seems film manufacturers are doing well because they aren't willing to serve small customers..

 

[DREW WILEY]

Fuji has a limited number of salesmen dedicated to large accounts. Any ordinary retail shop is going to deal with some kind of secondary distributor. If you want serious attention, you need to give them the one incentive that really counts, and be willing to routinely spend big money. And they already know where those opportunities are. One big dealer is better than fifty small ones, when it comes to profitability in relation to effort. And In such scenarios, loyalty to dealers is only as good as recent purchasing history, and then in turn dependent on how the sales reps themselves get treated, or jump ship instead. I was a professional buyer for forty years and know how the system works, regardless or product category. Fujifilm USA itself has always been a pain in the butt. Don't expect straight answers from customer service representatives; they're usually at the very bottom of the food chain, i.e, in entry level positions. Right now, I'm personally awaiting merely an answer if such and such a specific product is even in stock in this country. Covid understaffing and re-supply issues have made things more complicated than ever.

 

[wiltw]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but this one? If so... what failed? This is my favorite tool!

https://www.fiskars.com/en-us/garde...g-stik-extendable-tree-pruner-79-12-92406935k

Hi Brian, yes that is the pruning stick that have, and sent photo of the jammed head to Fiskars for warranty claim in 2020, after COVID closed so much. The head jammed closed, no force on the jaws would free it. It would only unjam with head disassembly;. Then I could not properly reassemble it to work properly; when I went to take it apart again for a second try, the nut would not longer loose to permit disassembly again.

 

[wiltw]

Sorry off-topic, but as small Finn I feel proud seeing stuff like this online We have tons of Fiskars products in local shopping malls. Their branch cutters and axes are just brilliant. And scissors too.

Back to topic: it seems film manufacturers are doing well because they aren't willing to serve small customers..

Do you know if Fiskars shut down due to COVID, for the past year? Fiskars USA says the item is out of stock, and has been like that for close to a year.

 

[radiant]

Do you know if Fiskars shut down due to COVID, for the past year? Fiskars USA says the item is out of stock, and has been like that for close to a year.

Not that I know of. I would assume they are up and running. The pruning stik is in stock in Finland: https://www.fiskars.com/fi-fi/puuta...arx-puutarhan-monitoimileikkuri-upx82-1023625 and their stock is allright https://www.is.fi/taloussanomat/porssi/osake/44727/

Hi Brian, yes that is the pruning stick that have, and sent photo of the jammed head to Fiskars for warranty claim in 2020, after COVID closed so much. The head jammed closed, no force on the jaws would free it. It would only unjam with head disassembly;. Then I could not properly reassemble it to work properly; when I went to take it apart again for a second try, the nut would not longer loose to permit disassembly again.

My Fiskars pruning stick got jammed too some time ago but I eventually got it released and it is working fine. Maybe I just sprayed some lubricant on the mechanisms, I cannot remember..

 

[Huss]

There are lots of small businesses that sell film, including Fuji products.

bluemooncamera, filmphotographystore, glasskeycamera etc

 

[DREW WILEY]

There's not much profit in it. The little guy has to buy it at a higher rate due to lesser volume, and then keep it refrigerated if it's color film. And nowadays everybody knows how to get it cheaper online. Still, I try to support local dealers whenever it's realistic for me to do so.

 

[BrianShaw]

Loss leader? That’s sometimes worth money.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Loss leading is a fool's game. I never did it even once in forty years of distribution. All our competitors who did went out of business. A smart bear will put on some fat before winter arrives, and it inevitably will. And once a price war starts, there is no bottom to it. Might be good for us consumers today, but not tomorrow when there are less surviving options to buy from.

 

[MattKing]

Loss leading is fine - if the product is almost invariably sold at the same time as something with a healthy margin.
Things like discount film, if processing is bought at the same time.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Yeah.... you'll attract jillions of new customers by advertising a loss-leader camera film these days?? Them days is long gone. And do you know what else that would do? - every other dealer whom that same distributor or mfg themselves sells so, and likely in far more reliable quantities, will threaten to dump them if it doesn't stop. Loss leading is a counterproductive strategy.

 

[mgb74]

Many distributors are not geared towards mom and pop stores, and may charge higher prices than are charged to larger outfits. It might actually be cheaper to go to B&H and buy film for resale than to buy from a distributor.

I think this is almost certainly true for a small retailer trying to sell film. And, buying from a B&H (or similar), allows buying in smaller quantities with less $ tied up in inventory.

I talked to a small shop owner who buys his Velvia off ebay.

Really? I might buy off ebay for my own, non critical, use. But the thought of buying from an ebay seller that may or may not have stored the film properly is a bit scary.

 

[MattKing]

There are retailers who use eBay as their web portal, rather than maintaining their own web store, so if that is where the film is coming from, it makes a certain amount of sense.