Viva GB

Americans wouldn't behave this way in a photo store either. Sometimes I think even Mother Theresea would of been rude/pushy on the internet.

ADOX FOTOIMPEX said:

Do Americans really expect from a dealer to stock 2x3 film in a way that without any delay they can always get EVERY speed anytime ?

If so I am glad I am living in Germany. If someone walks in our Berlin store and asks for 9x12cm film he asks me which films I have got and is usually very happy I´ve got some at all. I never had someone bitch at me if out of 5 speeds we had only 3 for immediate supply.

Click to expand...

Piss Poor Planning, equals Piss Poor Results

One really last time I will comment on this. I have talked to both Sean from APUG and Sean from JandC yesterday and today.

I can only say that things are seldom what they seem.

You believe everything you want about everything you read and think the best or worst of everyone you meet.

Curt

Curt, to who are yiu referring?

Well, EFKE is Croatian product, so send a mail to www.efke.hr, that is EFKE in Croatia. Solve your problem at source

This is copy from theire price lists:

efke PLAN film, 50 sheets
efke PL 100M, PL 50 M, PL 25 M
6,5x9 cm 92.00
9x12 cm 127.00
10x15 cm 150.00
13x18 cm 230.00
18x24 cm 351.00
4x5 in 161.00
5x7 in 230.00
8x10 in 460.00

All prices in Croatian Kunas, 1 USD is about 6 HK at day 20. 1. 2006. by Crotian national bank web site, so if I calculate correctly Pack of 50 sheets of EFKE film 25, or 50 or 100 ISO size 9x12cm costs about 21 USD (127/6) andyou must add to that transport costs, custom and tax duties in your country)...

Note, this price list was part of price list downloaded as pdf from www.efke.hr site, and list is now off site. They told me they will place new price list on monday. So, these prices does not have to be correct, and I am not responsabile if prices are not correct.

I have now spoken to Dajo in Holland and he says he will be prepared to ship Efke/Adox internationally but it probably won't be cheap. He says to mail him first and he'll give a cost price for shipping. Here's a transcript of his email to me:

Dear Andy,

Nice to hear from you again!!
Yep, still selling the Efke 25asa, or as it's called these day's; Adox
film.
I'll ship international if there is an request. but it's very expensive.
Normally I only sell within the Netherlands and Belgium, as you can buy
efke in most countries as well.

In case you, or others want to order, just send me the order and I'll mail
you the total price incl. the P&P.
Btw, I'll never calculate more then cost price for shipping!!!

Take care, Andy!
bye bye
Dajo.


You can contact Dajo through: http://www.efke.nl/

Kurt had an unexpected job which for some reason required the Efke film. Unable to obtain this film from JandC he called retro photographic where he was told that yes they have the film in stock, "but no, we are not interested in selling it to you since you are not a regular customer". Instead they should have told him the film was unavailable, and assisted him in locating another dealer who had some in stock or referred him back to the corporate headquarters so that they could sell to him, or assist him in locating the film in stock and at another dealer or distributor.

By refusing to sell the film to him, and failing to assist him in locating the film elsewhere, retro photographics' brush off could very well lead Curt to purchase another brand of film. Thus further eroding the sales of this particular film. Which as we all know eventually leads to the manufacturer stopping production. While many of you will say, "but it's only a couple of rolls of film". This is only one telephone call that we're aware of. Multiply this by a couple of times a day and pretty soon it begins to add up to a significant amount of film.

Retro photographic should be encouraging their regular customers to purchase more of this particular film to have on hand for their own uses. Or they should be stocking additional inventory in order satisfy all customers. It's just good business.

I for one, would probably consider retro photographic to be the last place I would call regardless of the product I was searching for. Since they obviously don't need my business or new customers at all.

As a small retail shop owner, I can relate to the difficulties in maintaining a sufficient inventory to fulfill the needs of my regular customers. But all of my regular customers were new customers at one time and servicing the customer is by far the most important aspect of any business.

I recently went to a masonry supply house to purchase some bags of cement, I was told that there was a shortage of cement and the all of their inventory was currently allocated. But instead of sending me away empty-handed, they asked how many bags did I need immediately. My intention was to buy cement for my current project and for another project that I'm planning to do in a month or two. I told them I wanted 25 bags but I needed 10 bags immediately, after checking with their managers they sold me the 10 bags. This was the first time I had purchased anything from this particular supplier. I will certainly consider them first for any future needs as a result of their both being honest and helping me at the same time. This is what it's really all about.

I find it difficult to believe that retro photographic couldn't have sold a couple of rolls to a new customer without jeopardizing their relationship with their existing customers.

This is going to sounds a bit nuts, but it is based on personal experience, so without intending offence to anyone, here is a thought .....

Once a retail/service business is established, and when it is apparent that it can be comfortably profitable with its steady local clientele, taking on more customers is not always a profitable action. I would guess (and it's ONLY a guess) that Retrographic is quite happy with their business as it exists and possibly will only sell outside their suggested territory when they can be certain that it will neither affect their local steady clientele, nor negatively impact the dealers in the area that the new customer comes from.
In the business that I owned we routinely turned away customers who didn't fit the profile of the customer we wanted. When we were asked why, we gave a straightforward answer without excuses, the answer being (politely) "we are in the business of servicing a different type of customer and we wouldn't be able to service both you and them". We were successful, profitable and not stressed by trying to be "all things to all people".

cheers

Well, I have resisted in posting on this thread, but just wanted to bring up a point....

Here in the US, we are not used to anyone saying NO, when we go to purchase something, I think what may be misunderstood here, is in other countries, at least the ones I have visited, it may not be all that uncommon, so perhaps there is a small bit of a culture clash going on here..

Me being an American business, try to do what I can to sell to anyone that requests, but also understand territories, regular customers and the like.

Just my .02

Dave

Adox Fotoimpex has confirmed there are comercial arrangements affecting the companies we have been discussing and in my view we ought to take this onboard.. So as there has been quite a bit of Retro Photographic-bashing by people who've never actually dealt with them, I would like to say I've found them very honest, reliable and helpful.