If we keep heading down the road of cheap deals through foreign sites, we may see the extinction of the shopping centre in a few years.
Expensive yes, but they provide top quality air-conditioning…FREE! A/C is vital to the survival of many people living in this great land.
Think of the future, think of the externalities that your decisions may cause.
People will get their goods some other way. They have to eat and clothe themselves. If something is overpriced you are paying opportunity cost on other uses of the money. Overpaying to keep jobs is always a poor proposition.
I understand as well about supporting local but like most of you those feelings disapear when I walk into a store and find that I'm treated as just a thing to give them money, no service bad attitude and constantly being treated like I know nothing about what I intend to buy. A simple example was that the other week I was comparing a lounge at I saw at myer to other stores where at each of the stores they would talk down to me and tell me what I wanted - a cream lounge "I asked for black" and for $1000 more with no price negotiation due to the other lounge I looked at being made cheaply. That sort of thing went on all day and in the end I just didn't bother. That's just one example ever week there are more across every kind of product.
General consensus is people get treated like shit in local shops…..
I don't know if that is true,
Honestly - we are talking about our fellow Australian's here….. We can't be all bad right?
Ignoring the economics, people should be able to treat each other with decency.
And I do support our local shops, but as other say, at a reasonable price.
10% - 20% don't break my back - look at the house prices we pay!!
End of day is whether or not we can source the same product for less,
As my mantra goes in (life and business)
You earn when you save
You profit when you buy not when you sell
May be some shops think that it is a privilege for us to buy/eat/drink/etc at their place, and therefore the attitude reflects that.
My theory is that the loss of business at a retailer starts a vicious cycle where staff get demotivated and start hating their job and the customers. They quit and more newbies take over, making it worse. At places where the business traffic is normal, e.g. cafes, barbers, etc. I get the usual courtesies.
There are successful local online retailers, e.g. whitegoods, where you cannot easily ship e.g. a washing machine from OS and you need the delivery and service.
disagree with extinction of shopping centres - is it only me that finds it nigh on impossible to find a park at the local shopping centre on a saturday morning?
they're as busy as ever I reckon.
get the groceries, look around price compare , have lunch and go home
Maybe the title should of been "Its time to support out local manufacturers"
I just bought some moccasins from uggstop which makes them locally and also looking for a new couch at a few local manufactures not like Gerry Harvey who has all of his imported then cry's on tv when the public import their stuff.
I dont really need a local retailer to buy something for me from overseas when I can do it my self.
not like Gerry Harvey who has all of his imported
Actually Harvey Norman sells lots of Australian made furniture
Have you not considered that prices are being skewed by the high value of the Aussie dollar? Ten years ago when it was worth far less, buying from overseas would have been much less attractive and the prices here would have been closer to being on par.
The problem with your theory is that the importers also benefit from the high value of the Aussie dollar.
Exactly, the buyer has caught on and are now buy overseas enmasse.
The Australian Dollar has been high for a long time. By not passing on the savings the retailers has driven people to overseas. This is the same with Television, people will stick around so long before they look elsewhere, and when they do its near impossible to bring them back.
CEO's Executives of companies need their bonuses/pay tied to long long term performance. The focus on short and mid term performance drives them to dirty tactics.
Nice discussion going, but nobody has really touched on the issue about why Aussie retailers are so expensive. I say screw the retailers that can't compete internationally! Why? Because the underlying problem is our current wage structure. You have people in retail earning ~$20/hr in a lot of places in Australia. Retail jobs in the USA/Canada pay a minimum wage which is usually less than $10/hr (probably $5-6/hr in some places in the US). Most retail jobs are generally unskilled. Our current Aussie leftist wage system rewards people well for not investing in a skill/education. That is the problem. So the next time you go to the polls to vote, consider the consequences of continuing to vote in politicians that make it impossible for manufacturing and retail sectors to compete on a global scale. My main point is - people seem to be more concerned with handouts and freebies from the government. How about some policies that support business and jobs so we don't need the freebies?
Times have changed and societies around the world are unfortunately becoming more leftist (Liberal/progressive as they say in Ameritopia). Whereas once governments were supposed to create an environment favouring the creation of wealth, now the job of the government is taken to be redistributing wealth and "social justice". Once people believed in self-reliance, but now people expect governments to coddle them. All Barack had to do to win the last presidential election was engage in 'class warfare'.
Even in the US, where unskilled labour is cheaper than here, manufacturing and clerical occupations have been increasingly outsourced to Asia, so what chance does this country stand of being able to compete globally? I am actually amazed at how low our unemployment rate is. What jobs are created to replace the jobs lost overseas?
I'd love to, but it's probably not going to happen when I save thousands a year by purchasing online, particularly at Christmas and for Birthdays. An example of this is the price between Optical cables - $39 for the cheapest at DSE, or $5 delivered to my door online, why would I buy local?
$5? You got taken for a rideee son. I paid $3 for mine.
i understand where you're coming from
pretty much everything coming out of china is a fraction of the cost of the same item bought locally
how do they do it for the money
china is where its made
cheap labour
cheap inventory warehousing
cheap shipping
there's no way australia or any country can compete
Another thing we should consider is the amount of savings from buying overseas and the pollution created from constantly buying from overseas. For example. I could easily get some headphones or electrical items from an Ebay international seller for about 30-50% of the money. But that has to come from UK/China/HK etc all the way to your doorstep. If you do that more than once or twice a month then clearly the fuel and energy required to do that stacks up.
Contrast this to just just buying from local ebay or a local retailer and buying the earphones yourself. Sure, they have come through the same route, but it will be more efficient if everyone buys from that same store rather than everyone receiving theirs in their own way. I hope this is not flawed logic.
i would say the environmental impact is somewhat exaggerated because you have to remember your parcel is not the only thing being transported from overseas. What really racks up your carbon footprint is the auspost delivery person having to deliver you every parcel as they arrive, which makes no difference if you shop online locally or overseas. Sure, you can walk but how many people live within walking distance of a shopping mall or a big w/kmart etc?
Another major environmental concern i can think of is the packaging, but that's really digressing from your main point.
All the cheap stuff is made overseas to begin with. You aren't saving the environment by buying local
You don't think DSE, HN make these phones, cameras, etc. gadget at their back street shops, do you?
And I suppose you would WALK tens of kilometers just to buy a headset, Because jets and ships are more energy efficient than your four wheeler.
all the above, plus having it delivered by Austpost actually saves money as instead of me making a trip, in my car to the store its delivered by one person to many houses. So the cost of the postie stopping his bike at my house in the odd occasion there is no other mail, vs the cost of me driving to the store, which at best is combined with trips to other stores.
Then there's the cost of the air conditioning in the local store, lighting, staff amenities, their lunches vs those in China etc - the mind boggles on the issues and "facts" to consider….
Point is, you will probably spend more energy with your computer on trying to work out the true environmental cost of buying online vs buying here.
And if our highly paid environmentalists in Canberra in their new luxury building, living off the tax, that encourages businesses to manufacture overseas, were eliminated, maybe some manufacturing might still be able to survive on shore. But then again, if China pollutes the planet with our coal, at least we can say, we have reduced our carbon footprint onshore, which is all the bureaucrats are tasked to do.
Hell in supporting the environment they cant even get a deposit tax, to save our beaches and parks from container pollution.
The ultimate shell game is in play here.
I'm happy to pay a premium that equates to the cost of a storefront and gst but anything more I'll just buy online.
my question would be… why are some industries so competitive
generally i'm quite pleased with how comparable PC parts prices are to the US… of course there are anomalies like high end laptops but generally a $200 motherboard here is a $200 motherboard in the US…
why?
Support Aussie retailers? Hell no. Support Aussie manufacturers? Hell yes. I regularly pay extra for Aus made products, but paying a 50% markup for an imported good just to buy from a local retailer? No way.
considering a major uk store/retailer is biting the dust every few months, im suprised australian stores are doing so well, especially when you consider you get lots of import tax and duty in the u.k. and here most of the time its no
to be honest, i could quite easily do without customer service entirely. i would rather have the opionions of unbiased reviewerss on the net than commisionhungry salesmen. and seriously what you rather have a shirt a dollar less or 'insincere hello' as you walk in the store?
i would rather have the opionions of unbiased reviewerss on the net than commisionhungry salesmen. and seriously what you rather have a shirt a dollar less or 'insincere hello' as you walk in the store?
Oh dear have you ever heard of sockpuppeting. Leaves many of these commission hungry bastards for dead.
BTW how can you tell, for example, an unbiased Fandroider vs an AppleMuncher apart in any unbiased review? Please enlighten the rest of us…
I buy lots of stuff online, but I never go into stores to 'try before I buy', so to speak. Defeats the purpose of being lazy and ordering online ;)
Having said that, I was in Myer yesterday and tried on a pair of Coach sunglasses - I really liked them but they were $189.95 so I didn't want to spend that much on what was essentially an impulse buy. This morning, out of interest, I tried to find the sunglasses online. I hadn't taken note of the style name but I did remember what they looked like, so I found them soon enough - $89.95 inc shipping from a reputable Australian website (though not an Australian company). I checked their Facebook page and they happened to have a 10% off code, so I ended up paying $80.96 for a pair of sunglasses that were $189.95 in Myer.
Times like this I can't justify buying from an Australian store - I saved $109 and got them for less than half price. I'm happy to wait for them to arrive and if I don't like they're easily returned.
I just deleted a full page of rant of why i don't support aussie retails anymore.
But in the end, its just:
As a buyer, always get the best deal if you can.
if the differences are insignificant then by all means support local retail.
I am not sure how many had an experience , but when you buy something from a retail shop , say for example TV woth $500 and it broke you can take it back to the retailer . but online i had hard time getting my stuff fixed ,
That's luck most retailers are hands off, you have to contact the manufacturer.
An example of why I don't support Australian retailers.
Bonds' they go overseas, yet their prices are still high, they're only slightly lower that what they use to be.
I have bought a couple of pair of underwear as I really liked them, but guess what 6 months in and they're saggy and stretched out.
Ah the old Bond haters. Cant distinguish between a retailer and a supplier.
But why let details like that affect a good rant.
I personally think retailers in here are not greedy. They put the price really high as it is easy to rip off Australians. They wont give us high prices unless we buy them.
I'm sure the first thing in the Australian retailer's handbook is
1a) As a rule of thumb, find out the American price of the product you sell and at least double it for the Australian consumer.
Question for op,
You fear for the future of local businesses yet of the 5 deals you have posted since joining 12 days ago, 4 related to products sourced and shipped from overseas. Can you see the irony of you statement? You have answered your own question with your actions.
From 2003 to 2009, I used to spend $1k+ in Myer and local clothing shops each year for clothes. Since mid 2009, after I discovered shops like ASOS, strawberrynet and thehut, my local spending has only been limited to DFOs. Myer is crazily overpriced, but I do believe we can get good deals in DFO like $20-$50 dresses or 70% off polos at ralph lauren. In a way, i'm still supporting local retailers just not the chain store ones. Not going to pay for their rent and crazy markups on makeup and clothes!
I refuse to support local businesses when they cannot give competitive prices. Most retailers in Australia are earning over 200% profit.
I remember hearing from my friend who used to work at HN, when you buy a large TV they push you to buy a wall mount. The wall mount only costs them $20 to get, but they sell to you for $200.
When prices vary so much from overseas, why would people want to buy in Australia?
Its even worse when an Australian company charges more in Australia than their equivalent products overseas….
Amplifiers: $500 overseas, expect to pay $900 AUS.
Cameras: $600 overseas, expect to pay $1000 (this was the price when I bought my Lumix GX1)
Cosmetics: Double the price in AUS. (Aesop is cheaper in USA than in Australia, and it is an AUS company LOL!)
Laptops: Sony Laptop, $2000 overseas, $3000 in AUS. (It even came with International Warranty, so why buy AUS?)
Software: Just compare the prices between Adobe AUS and Adobe USA, differs about 25-50%.
Instead of supporting local businesses, we should boycott local businesses and then they will realise their massive profit margins are WRONG and business practices are causing harm their business. It is not the consumers responsibility to keep a business alive, if that is the case then we should all be their CEOs.
There is generally 2 common business practices:
1. Sell cheap, small profit margin, sell ALOT.
2. Sell expensive, LARGE profit margin, sell less. (This is the one that ALMOST all Australian businesses use)
WELCOME TO THE DIGITAL AGE, SUCK IT UP AND STOP SUPPORTING BUSINESSES WHO RIP YOU OFF, IF THEY CANNOT SUSTAIN THEIR BUSINESSES THEN THEY SHOULD CHANGE THEIR BUSINESS PRACTICES.
WELCOME TO THE DIGITAL AGE, SUCK IT UP AND STOP SUPPORTING BUSINESSES WHO RIP YOU OFF, IF THEY CANNOT SUSTAIN THEIR BUSINESSES THEN THEY SHOULD CHANGE THEIR BUSINESS PRACTICES.
Most retailers in Australia are earning over 200% profit.
Really? On what basis other than hearsay from a friend at HN do you base this wild SCREAMING allegation.
200%??? So they buy a TV for $200 and then mark it up to $600, no actually $800 as they need to pay staff rent advertising etc before they get their 200% profit. (and with your 200% margin, my example ignores GST which would add another $60)
Get a clue before writing such emotional clap trap.
Dont take a small item like a cable, where fixed handling costs may see a high margin and extrapolate this into all items.
The sad thing is 3 people voted this up believing what you wrote.
For someone with a basic misunderstanding of business practices viz
- Sell cheap, small profit margin, sell ALOT.
- Sell expensive, LARGE profit margin, sell less. (This is the one that ALMOST all Australian businesses use)
You better not start your own business otherwise you'll be one of the first to understand that the majority fold within 3 years.
Oh and you forgot in your business model the role of distributors in this "retail' margin rant. Your Adobe example is one where retailers buy from the Adobe distributor at inflated prices.
BTW I buy from overseas and I am not in business myself, and do feel that we get ripped off here, but writing such uninformed crap isnt true or helpful to any argument
I foresee a time when Australian stores operate out of low-cost premises and offer competitive pricing with only a small-markup to reflect the increased cost of importing.
I foresee a much happier time when more people run their own business instead of being the wage-slaves paying for executives' houses, cars and swimming pools :)
LOL Low Cost Premises. I call BS on that.
Their mark up is WELL covering their premises cost.
Selling at double or triple the price of overseas…. i'm sure they will cover their costs EXTREMELY fast.
Especially places like HN, sometimes their profit margins are in the 1000% mark up range. Especially the items that they push all the people to buy when they sell a TV.
$20 Wall Mount > $200 at HN
$3 HDMI Cable > $50 at HN
LOL, don't tell me they mark these up because they have premises costs to pay.
Did you perhaps miss the point about retailers operating from low-cost premises rather than multimillion dollar shopping malls being some time in the future, in much the same way as tens of thousands of people run businesses from their own homes or garages already?
I heard Gerry Harvey is worth near a billion dollars, just by being a middle man. I say the consumer revolution is way overdue.
I think our poor Gerry's should just be happy that these days a revolution let's people retain their head.
Once our retailers discounted they are unbeatable.
example….
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/101243
This is much cheaper than overseas by miles and peace of mind local warranty.
i rarely buy electric gadgets from overseas.
So our locals are not as greedy as we think.
Yes…i am supporting my locals and feel good.
the problem with that example is its a runout model
i bought a samsung galaxy for $200… doesnt mean its indictive of the industry as a whole and its already been said that lower cost IT products are generally quite competitive
I think one of the problems is that comparing prices alone is not a fair comparison.
We are one of the wealthiest countries in the world so things will cost more here.
As our wage is comparatively higher staff cost more to employ, you need to pay them superannuation, rent costs more, utilities cost more and so on.
Equally, freight in Australia to bring the goods to a store cost more than in the USA where fuel is cheaper and they also have a vast rail road network to cheaply transport goods.
We also have less people than the USA so the laws of supply and demand state that we will have higher prices compared to somewhere like the USA which has a greater demand.
We are taxed quite highly.
When an Australian store imports a good they pay 5% of the cost value in Duty.
When they sell the good 10% of the selling price is collected as Tax. (The price you pay form the USA is tax free)
Our businesses are taxed quite highly, 30% of profits.
Take a very crude example, a product with a cost of $100
Importing this product into Australia will make it cost $105
Importing this product into the USA will make it cost $102.50
Lets say it sells here for $400 and $200 in the USA
In Australia from that $400 $37 goes to the government in gst. Sales profit is $258. Of that 30% goes in tax, total profit $180.60.
In the USA of that $200, $0 is lost in tax. In America the price of $200 is advertised and the total price you pay depends on the state you live in and the sales tax in your state. Sales profit is $97.50
Now on that $97 there will be some profit tax however bug business in the USA doesn't really pay tax (ie GE paid $0 in federal tax). Lets say their good accountants bring their tax down to 10%. The business gets to keep $87.30.
So of that product costing $200 more in Australia the store has only made $93.30 extra profit over the USA. And that is not taking into account wages, rent, utilities, freight within the country and so on. All of which cost more here than they do in the USA.
So if you actually want things to cost less here than they do in the USA take a pay cut and organise for everyone else to earn less money. Things will surely become cheaper then.
No you would care.
Retail is one of the largest employee sectors in Aus. If big shopping centre's went belly up, the effects would screw everyone.