Going back to the original discussion on camera kit, years ago (before online purchasing became common) my local town (Harrow) used to have a very good independent camera shop, as well as a branch of Jessops, and as I appreciated the help and advice they offered, I'd try to support them rather than buy from Jessops. As an example, I bought 2 Minolta 9xi bodies and a couple of lenses from them, at a higher price than Jessops were selling them for at the time, purely on a matter of principle.
Unfortunately, as they couldn't compete on price, they closed down leaving Jessops as the only photographic retailer in town.
It wasn't that many years later that the local Jessops also closed, so the nearest photo shop was in Watford, where I ended up switching to Canon digital kit from SRS, and also picked up a bargain Canon 5D from the Jessops there.
Since then, SRS switched to Olympus and Sony kit, and stopped selling Canon. Jessops also closed their Watford branch, meaning if I wanted to go into an actual camera shop, it was a trip into central London. Whilst several shops still survive there, many have closed (e.g. Jacobs).
As online sales have taken over, and physical shops have closed, I now do a lot of research via online reviews and once I've decided on what to buy, it's inevitably ordered via the internet.
This means that it makes little difference to me in terms of service, whether I buy from the likes of WEX, Ffordes, Castle, Jessops or whatever, as they are all very similarly priced. On the other hand, I can buy online from HDEW, who provide the same kit at a much cheaper price, although offer their own warranty as opposed to the manufacturer one.
It's very hard to ignore the price difference though. In the past, I've bought a Canon 100mm f2.8L macro lens and 2 x 580EX2 flash units and a 5Dmk3 from them, all without issues, and if there were issues, I've got the option of going to their bricks and mortar shop in Surrey.
More recently, in 2021, I was looking to go to a Canon R5. Wex et al had it for around £4.5k. I bought from HDEW for £3,308. It has been perfect, and I couldn't be happier with their service. That's a saving of £1200, which is hard to ignore.
Coming right up to date, co-incidentally, today I ordered an EF11-24mm f4L from HDEW. The cheapest I could find it from the "conventional" online retailers was £3000, and many are selling it at £3300. The total bill from HDEW including delivery is £1724.
So, given a previously completely satisfactory service from HDEW over a good number of years, should I be paying "full" price, as seemingly advocated by the original poster, or saving £1276 for exactly the same product? I'm afraid that I've voted with my wallet, and will have absolutely no qualms about doing so again in the future.
Unfortunately, it's not just photographic kit that we get ripped off on the pricing in the UK, it seems to be a very wide range of goods which are available for significantly cheaper prices in other countries, so where the opportunity arises to buy these genuine goods at a significant discount, and more in line with what consumers in many other countries are paying, can one really blame UK consumers for doing so?
