Perhaps you were one of the ones who got the "Nikkor Super Telephoto Lenses--Limited Availability at the Nikon Store!" email last Friday. A day on which there weren't any 500mm's in stock at three dealers I checked that I know try to regularly carry the item. Okay, I'll check those dealers later today and again tomorrow and update this note--it's possible that Nikon did ship 500mm lenses to dealers who had outstanding orders on Friday when they sent that email to Nikon customers.
But still, it's not going to please the dealers to see the Nikon Store directly solicit customers with an in-stock notice before the authorized dealer network manages to even get their shipments and update their inventory status. This is not a trivial thing Nikon is doing. A 500mm sale made at Nikon Store but not at a dealer nets your dealer about US$1200 less profit and NikonUSA about US$1300 more profit. That's a pretty big slap in the face.
I have to question what NikonUSA's motive is with the online store. Every Nikon authorized dealer I've talked to since it first appeared has spontaneously griped to me about it, without me having to ask a question. At least they aren't undercutting dealer prices. Oh wait, Nikon Store sometimes is with those refurbished products they're hawking without disclosing the warranty for.
Sure, Sony has an online Web site that sells products. So does Olympus, Canon, and a number of others. (The Olympus reconditioned cameras, by the way, have an explicitly stated "with two year extended warranty" on them, by the way, and it's in big bold print. ;~) That doesn't make starting a store and competing with the dealer base that built your brand the right thing to do. Moreover, if you don't want to anger your dealers, you definitely don't want to send out mass emailings to those people who bought cameras from the authorized dealer network (!) about in stock items that you haven't shipped to those same dealers yet. Yikes! Which of the Three Stooges is manning the tiller at Nikon? Of course, the other ones are running the stores at the other brands. At one point Canon's online store ran a sale of one DSLR at what effectively was US$4 over the cost to the store.
I know I harp on Nikon's practices a lot*. I do that not because I'm a grumpy curmudgeon who doesn't like anything. I do it because I'd sincerely like to see Nikon have the "best practices" and "best customer handling" of any camera company. They're a long way from that, and now they're handling their other customer, the dealer, poorly too. So, yes, I poke them a lot, hoping we'll see a change in practices. I know they read this site. They don't have to respond to me, though. NikonUSA should read this and instantly realize they need to send an apology to every authorized dealer in the US. And not repeat the mistake. But what makes me think that Nikon is considering something along the lines of Apple? Nikon Stores in big cities, Big Box stores for the low-end stuff, Nikon online for the rest of us. Considering Nikon's customer service handling, that idea should be dead on arrival. Something tells me it isn't.
*So what would you write about a company that produces great products but has poor practices dealing with the majority of its customers?
Update 11/16: No 500's or 600's have made it to dealers yet that I know of since Nikon's sending the email. A few of you think that I'm being hard on Nikon, but consider the following email I received: "I have been on the waiting list with my local dealer for months and recently, at the advice of a photographer friend, added myself to the Adorama waiting list. When I saw the e-mail and checked on availability for the 600mm, I immediately placed an order but half expected that I'd get an e-mail response that said the item was backordered. I received a shipment confirmation notice the next day." So a local dealer didn't make a US$1500 profit. How many times does that need to happen before you don't have a local dealer any more? Is a decline in local dealers what we as Nikon users really want? I don't think so, thus my harsh comments.
Update 11/18: B&H and one other dealer I monitor today show the 500mm to be in stock (possibly only temporarily). So Nikon appears to have dribbled some more units out to dealers shortly after they sent their email soliciting customers for the Nikon Store. A couple more reader comments: "Your description of Nikon’s business practices reminds me of Circuit City’s treatment of their salespeople who generated the highest volume sales a few years back – they fired their best salespeople because Circuit City was having to pay too much in commissions! Well, now Circuit City doesn’t have to pay any commissions…" and "I think most people don't care. I have long given up on my local dealers- its not worth it anymore. I can get the info I need from websites like yours to determine whether in item is for me or not." This latter comment requires a comment of its own: yes, some local dealers are no longer all that great and can be lived without. But this is a chicken and egg thing. As dealers get more and more squeezed by the manufacturers, they cut back on support, inventory, and start pushing only things they make good margin on. We've seen this game before, and it doesn't end well. For anyone.