Luxury Prices without the Luxury Experience?

[giganova]

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Please allow me to post a controversial question:

Is Leica a luxury brand that doesn't offer any luxury experience?

Let me elaborate: I've been shooting with Leicas since I was 16 years old, which is now, well, four decades ago. So I must have spent a sizable amount of money on Leica gear. But my brand loyalty is being tested as I simply miss the luxury experience, despite luxury prices. Even though my local Leica boutique must know me because I buy a lot of stuff, they tend to leave me alone when I come in (which I appreciate) and I have to ask them to open a display case to show me a product. There is never a "Great to see you again, can I get you a coffee or a glass of prosecco?"They never call me or send me an email that they have a new product I might be interested in. When I go to the store, they never say "Want to see the new Q3 we just got in?" They never invite me to exclusive events, all I am getting are invites to purchase expensive Leica academy events. They give me nothing that would show their appreciation as a long-term customer, would feel me welcome and tempt me to buy new gear.

Quite the opposite: when I went there last year and said "I came to buy an SL2 with a 24-70 lens!" the store employee said "Well, are you sure you want this? The camera is quite heavy and large, you might regret your purchase. I would recommend that you buy a Q3." When I said "I don't want a Q3, I want to buy an SL2 with a 24-70 lens" he said "Tell you what: you think about it for a few days and if you still think you want one, give me a call or email me and I'll send you one." So I went home, totally frustrated that he simply didn't want to sell me a camera with a lens, waited two days and pretended that I was thinking about it, then called, paid over the phone, and they Fedexed me the package. I felt so unwelcome by this experience!

That is in stark contrast to other higher-end brands: after my wife bought a BMW, the dealer called my wife a few times and asked whether she liked her new car and if she is happy with the purchase. A package or envelope from BMW since arrived every year to celebrate my wife car's birthday, with a poster, a book signed by BMW employees, a BMW pen, or just a very nice signed postcard. Each month she finds a free BMW magazine in the mail. And when she goes to the BMW dealer, there's always free donuts, pizza, and any kind of drink you want. After my wife bought a Tesla -- which isn't even a luxury brand -- two years ago, she got a surprise phone call from Tesla who asked if she wanted to drive the new Model S or a Cybertruck (hard no!) for free for a week. My sister has a Porsche and every time she goes to her local Porsche dealer, they welcome here with a glass of champagne, and she regularly gets invited to participate in exclusive Porsche trips to relatively local but exotic locations (in Germany, that would be a trip to a castle where Porsche owners gather and the dealer provides drinks and snacks, or a group trip to the Italian Alpes, or an exclusive showing of a new model). And each month she finds a free Porsche magazine in the mail. And last time I went to visit my sister in Germany and we made a quick stop at the Porsche dealer, the dealer said "Wait what? Your brother is visiting you from the US for a week and doesn't have a rental car? Let me give you a Porsche for a week!" and he handed me the keys to a brand new Porsche I was then driving around for a week -- for free! Now, that's a brand my sister will obviously be loyal for the rest of her life. And when the local Maserati dealer learned that she bought another Porsche, she comes home one night and finds a Maserati in her drive way, and a key with a note in her mailbox "We thought you might enjoy this for the week!"

My Leica boutique offers nothing, not even a coffee.

What's you experience?

Edited 9 hours ago by giganova

[TomB_tx]

As an aging engineer, I've never bought anything for a "luxury experience" but for good design and reliable function. I bought my first Leica (M4) at the mom & pop camera store where I worked part time in college in 1968. I also bought my Leicaflex SL there the next year as I left the area. All the rest of my many Leica bodies and lenses I've bought either used or by "mail order" (my age is showing) or on-line in recent years, as I've never again lived close to a Leica dealer. I prefer function to status.

After college I traded my old Volvo wagon towards a BMW, back when nobody in the USA knew what a BMW was - except car guys loved the little 2002 hot rod. To get a market foothold they de-trimmed their 6-cyl sedan, renamed it the "Bavaria" and cut the price in half, to $5K. People would say: "Cute car! is it a Toyota?" I drove it for a decade and found parts and service were then priced as a luxury car. Then I drove a friends VW Rabbit and found I enjoyed it more. Stayed with VW cars and vans for decades. VW got uppity, and my wife switched us to Subaru. Can't ever see wanting a "luxury" brand,

I've kept using Leica because there's nothing that feels and works like them. I've gone many years without buying new bodies or lenses, until the M9 & then 10 let me use my old lenses and habits just as if they used film. It hurt to pay the prices, but I'm hooked on the function and feel.

Edited 8 hours ago by TomB_tx

[JNK100]

I have always been treated well by Leica. I don't need them to make me feel special, I just like the cameras and lenses.

I doubt any camera store would offer pizza.

[jdlaing]

I feel special knowing the CFO at Leica has been wallowing in my money since 1968. 

[masjah]

If Leica offered this "Luxury Experience" along with the sales of its products, then I would be less likely to be a Leica owner purely because I would know that some of my money was being spent on superfluous nonsense rather than the product itself (which nonsense would in any case make me cringe). I concede that I am paying at a price point shared by luxury goods, but I'm not paying for this  "Luxury Experience". I'm paying for ridiculously small-scale production, consequent a ridiculously high proportion of hand-assembly, in a country with a ridiculously high-wage economy. The result though is a fabulously crafted product which for me is worth my money; in this context "luxury" isn't actually within my descriptive register.

 

[FrozenInTime]

"Last year" what made you bring this up after so long ; thinking of buying a Q3 ? 😉 

You don't say if this employee was a long time employee, who you have spoken to often; maybe even knowing their name, or some recent high school kid.

Still it was bad service to not listen to you and direct so far away from the initial desire.

( Old BBC sketch on store staff customer respect  https://youtu.be/dSINO6MKtco?si=G5vw8JcbLEH3qukV 

and one about the technical knowledge of marketing departments https://youtu.be/UvU6m5EVJcc?si=sLtgXl9sdTYedDhc)

Edited 7 hours ago by FrozenInTime

[lct]

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There are stores and stores. My ones provide what i need i.e. competence. They have nothing to do with luxus, neither do I.

[LocalHero1953]

Why didn't you tell the salesman to get back in his hutch and come out with the camera you asked for?

[LocalHero1953]

Leica Mayfair kept the store open just for me in late 2020 when the next Covid lockdown was announced - I got there just in time early evening to hand in a 4 month old used SL2 and receive in exchange a new SL2-S, as a straight swap, no cash difference. They locked the door for the next couple of months as I left. That was good service.

[lct]

32 minutes ago, LocalHero1953 said:

[...] They locked the door for the next couple of months as I left. That was good service.

Especially if they started coughing after your visit Just kidding.

 

[giganova]

My argument is that they don't seem to care about brand loyalty or whether you even buy their stuff. Seems like a weird attitude towards their customers. 

 

[giganova]

1 hour ago, JNK100 said:

I doubt any camera store would offer pizza.

Agreed, but if they would offer me a glass of prosecco and make me tipsy, I might leave the store with a tiny $10,000 bag in my hand 😂

[LocalHero1953]

No prosecco, but Leica Mayfair will give you a coffee.

[frame-it]

6 hours ago, giganova said:

Great to see you again, can I get you a coffee

Hot Coffee and a Cookie...almost automatic here...or at least faster than Leicas  Autofocus

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