> So I want to start a new shop I need to hope the major brands deem me worthy enough to send reps out.
If you started a new shop, you would want to reach out to the major (and minor) camera brands directly. Do you think shops, today, get inventory by advertising somehow? No. They get inventory by cultivating relationships with suppliers. Advertising has very little to do with it.
> there is no point in providing variety if there is no advertising to encourage alternatives
Of course there is. I've never seen any advertising for 95% of the brands I buy at the supermarket. But I still appreciate that their products are on the shelves, and I still buy them. If I visually imagine all the groceries I regularly buy, most of the products are from brands I've only discovered by chance at the supermarket. (Eg, milk, eggs, canned food, etc).
If you started a new shop, you would want to reach out to the major (and minor) camera brands directly. Do you think shops, today, get inventory by advertising somehow? No. They get inventory by cultivating relationships with suppliers. Advertising has very little to do with it.
> there is no point in providing variety if there is no advertising to encourage alternatives
Of course there is. I've never seen any advertising for 95% of the brands I buy at the supermarket. But I still appreciate that their products are on the shelves, and I still buy them. If I visually imagine all the groceries I regularly buy, most of the products are from brands I've only discovered by chance at the supermarket. (Eg, milk, eggs, canned food, etc).