Canon Demo Days and Sale?!

firststring74

So the other day I got the Penn Camera presents Canon Demo Days and Sale in the mail. I haven't been to one before but I am lusting after some new glass so can I go and expect a good deal during this event? Or is this just another gimmick? This starts on June 4th and I could take a drive to the local Penn Camera and check it out, but I don't want to waste gas and time doing so if there will be no discounts on lens etc.

Anyone been to one or have any input?

Manfr3d

firststring74 wrote:

So the other day I got the Penn Camera presents Canon Demo Days and Sale in the mail. I haven't been to one before but I am lusting after some new glass so can I go and expect a good deal during this event? Or is this just another gimmick? This starts on June 4th and I could take a drive to the local Penn Camera and check it out, but I don't want to waste gas and time doing so if there will be no discounts on lens etc.

Anyone been to one or have any input?

The camera roadshows that I've been to (Pentax, Canon)
were held by people who do are not work for the shop.
They only demo at the shops because that where we go
and the shop allows it because they hope for more visitors.
The way I understand it, lower offerings depend entirely
on the shop and I've never seen a shop do it. But why
don't you call the shop and ask them if the actualy do?

Tommyboy

I don't know Penn Camera or its pricing structure. If they make a decent profit normally, they might be discounting a bit for the demo. If the flyer said "sale," I would expect lower prices.

You can quickly find the lowest prices available by checking the known internet giants. Frankly, there's not a great deal of profit to be made on most of this stuff, so "sales" tend to be only a few percent if at all. I don't know what you mean by a "good deal." Check B&H, Adorama, or Canoga Camera to see what the going rate is on the product(s) you're interested in. This will give you a benchmark for what a "good price" is; however, it's always nice to buy something face-to-face and to support your local dealer.

What the demo does offer is the ability to see and handle glass that the store might not normally stock or have on display. It also provides the opportunity to talk with someone who is likely to know a great deal about what he or she is talking about.

firststring74

Thanks guys, that is what I thought. As far as a good deal, a few percent off is better than none in my opinion! I'll have to go check it out this week on my day off.

henryp

When we do manufacturer's product demo days there are manufacturer's tech reps along side our sales associates and they usually bring additional display items. Whenever possible there's some buying inducement arranged between the manufacturer and our buyer. Sometimes a discount or a free case or accessory -- that can vary.

darkdragon

I know I'm a little late to the party here, but we just had a Canon Days event with a local shop on this past Saturday. The neat thing was that the Canon reps brought a lot of lenses and bodies and we were all allowed to try things out. This was great because I wanted to try out the TS-E 90mm but nobody in town carries it.

Anyhow, all the attendies also got $50 off "anything with the Canon name on it" at the camera store that helped sponsor the event. Basically that meant that if I needed a new lens cap (canon branded) that was $15, I could go use my coupon and the cap would be free - but then the coupon would be used. A new $300 lens would end up being $250. So the "deal" varies on what we buy.

Your local stores might do it differently, probably will. Just thought I'd share my experiance since thats what you ask