Ricoh turns to a customer “lottery” to overcome high demand for GR III/IIIx HDF

The idea that companies underestimate demand for their products has turned into a bit of a joke at this point. For the past few years, just about every camera and lens manufacturer has announced new gear, followed by a notice that orders “exceed our expectations”.

Ricoh’s decided to change things up, though. According to a statement, the company can’t keep up with Ricoh GR III/IIIx HDF orders. Instead of simply telling people to hold on and wait their turn, though, they’re deciding who gets one by lottery.

The Ricoh GR III HDF and GRIIIx HDF cameras were announced in March this year. Both models are essentially identical to the standard GR III and GR IIIx models, but with the addition of a new “Highlight Diffusion Filter” – that’s where the HDF bit comes from.

It seems to have proven too popular for Ricoh, though, as they’re now unable to meet the demand – so they say. The complete (Google-translated) notice from Ricoh reads as follows:

Notice and Apology of Temporary Suspension of Orders for the RICOH GR Series

We have received far more orders for the RICOH GR series than planned, and customers who have already placed orders will have to wait for a long time for delivery.

Therefore, we regret to inform you that we will temporarily suspend accepting orders.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding.

• Products subject to order suspension
  • RICOH GR III, GR IIIx, GR III Diary Edition, GR IIIx Urban Edition

About accepting orders for RICOH GR III HDF/ RICOH GR IIIx HDF

Sales will start from April 12th (Friday). RICOH GR III HDF/ RICOH GR IIIx HDF will be sold only at the official online store. However, access was concentrated on the day of delivery, making it difficult to connect, causing inconvenience to customers.

Based on this, we regret to inform you that we will be selling items by lottery starting from the sale of items that arrive after Friday, May 17, 2024.

Details such as entry acceptance period for lottery sales will be posted on each product page, so please check them.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding.

• Applicable products
  • RICOH GR III HDF
  • RICOH GR IIIx HDF

Sales of both models have been completely suspended for now, pending the new “lottery” system. Exactly how it will work seems a little unclear. It says to check the product pages, but there’s no mention of a lottery system on the product page for the Ricoh GR III/IIIx HDF cameras.

It’s a weird marketing tactic, for sure. And while I appreciate the imaginative nature of this statement, I expect it will ultimately do them more harm than good when it comes to sales of the cameras.

It may alleviate some of the demand issues, but I think it’s mostly just going to put people off buying the cameras and going with a competitor instead. Of course, the flavour of the month competitor would be the Fuji X100VI. And Fuji’s having a hard time keeping up with demand, too.

At least with Fuji, most retailers will give you some indication of how many weeks (or months) you might have to wait before you get it. But with a lottery? Might be tomorrow, might be a year from now. Who knows?