A-la-carte lens for kits?

It is my wish that Canon would allow us to select a lens for a kit purchase rather than give us only one/few options. Considering the 7D Mark II; it would be great if Canon provided us the $200 discount to any lens we choose. Is there a marketing reason for this?


($200 = ((cost of 7DII 18-135mm kit - cost 7DII body)$350) - 18-135mm lens cost ($549))

I would guess it's because the kit lenses they DO offer are selected for reasons having little to do with retail price. More likely it is some combination of margin, volume and the marketing department attempting to create a value proposal for a certain customer segment.

They did a promo here in Canada, you can pick up the 24-70 F4L IS for $400 on top of the body so you're effectively getting a killer kit. Guess the lens isn't selling at all so want to get rid of stock.

It is my hope that one day it will happen. Or that there is a voucher that can be applied to a new lens. For example, as with the 7D, give us $150 discount on a new lens. Someday...

It's especially frustrating with the SL1 how it costs the same for body-only and kitted with the 18-55 STM.

Pipe dream. The purpose of including a kit lens is to provide the purchaser with an out of the box solution. They have zero incentive to let you cherry pick the lens catalog for your choice of lenses at a discount. They will occasionally create alternative bundles for marketing purposes. But how would your proposed system work for canon and retailers?. The kit lens is boxed within the packaging of the body, canonwould have to estimate the # of desired alternatives, create special packaging, and then satisfy the various commercial outlets with a prescribed number. It would be a logistical nightmare.

Heya,

Because if they did, and the market flooded with top tier lenses at a several hundred dollar discount, well, think about it. It just trickles down from there.

Look at the 24-105 and 17-40.

Very best,

complete wrote in post #17197038
it would be great if Canon provided us the $200 discount to any lens we choose. Is there a marketing reason for this?

Yes, the reason is $200.

There is a difference between offering a kit deal on specific lenses, and just giving people $200 off any lens with every camera purchase which is what you are looking for.

The kit is first and foremost intended to be a motivation for purchase of people who own no EOS equipment or who have, say, 1.6X with an EF-S lens and are getting a FF body. So they get a body and a lens in order to get started, and they get a discount on a lens Canon thinks matches well with that body. The real key is to offer value to someone that might go for a Nikon, or to entice someone into an impulse purchase (like at Costco). You are not going to get an impulse purchase of a body with no kit, because people don't impulsively buy something that they cannot use right away. The kit says....buy me right now and shoot little Katie's soccer game this afternoon!

Presumably most people who have a complete kit and are just adding a body will buy just the body. To offer $200 against any lens for these folks is just giving away $200 in profit. It does not achieve the goals of the kit, from the standpoint of marketing.

The kit lenses these days are quite good. The 18-55 IS STM is very sharp, light and small. I still keep it around for group shots, it is nearly perfect for that activity. The 15-85 seems to get great reviews too. Canon isn't going to stick in fast lenses from the get-go, that would defeat the purpose of profitability and meeting shareholder expectations.