Daiso is celebrating their 1st anniversary and is offering the 11th item free when you buy 10.
4 locations across Sydney now:
Still don't like paying more than double JP price, esp since the goods are all manuf in China and cost 70c at port. So in Jp they add about 35c cost from port to the shop while here they add $2.10 from Sydney ports into retail store.
I travel to Japan (and Korea) several times a year. I cannot get over the mark up of goods from Japan compared to goods from Korea. Similar distance from Oz, similar prices, more mark up for Jap goods. Why the 100% mark up on goods for Japan domestic, shipped from China? I don't get it.
Good products though, but not the full range of Daiso stuff from Jap.
And also the wages are lower, rents are lower, overheads are lower, tax is currently lower, closer to China, less theft and some things are still made in Japan.
Valid point. It would add to the shipping etc, but I am still not convinced of the double price. Is Aus tax/shipping that high?
Perhaps when you take into account wages in OZ being so high then that may justify the markup.
Been to, lived in and worked in Japan but yeah obviously. BTW I didn't know they were legally allowed to pay WH staff less money.
What commercial lease are you comparing? Daiso are all over the place from small towns to massive metro areas. In Aus they are in metro areas only so I can assure you the rents are higher.
I personally think it's overpriced here but then most things in Aus are. I'm just giving some reasons why the comparison may not be as black and white but given the new facts about rent and wages I think you've obviously lived and done business in Japan.
A big warning for people thinking about this:
I went for this offer last year, and I cannot emphasise how terrible the terms and conditions were.
I bought a bunch of stuff and instead of getting the 11th one free, you are directed to another service person who asks for your details (email/name, I didn't give mine) and then gives you a coupon for a free product the next time you shop there. To actually use the coupon on your next shop you need to buy six items in the same transaction, so it was actually buy 16 items and get 1 free. Fine I thought, that's a bit rich but I the products here are pretty cool so I went back a couple of weeks later, presented my coupon and was told that it's not valid on weekends.
The worst Ts&Cs ever.
Sorry to hear about your poor experience - I assume it was this offer:
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/62942
This time there is no coupon required, it should be more straightforward. It sounds to me that you just get the 11th item free when you checkout…
Yeah that's the one, it would be great if the Diaso site had the Ts&Cs for the offer this time around so we could be sure. I had a look and couldn't find anything which is pretty weird for a retailer to miss in their marketing materials.
Went there saturday night, not knowing this offer existed. We bought 11 items and charged 28 dollar. Confused, we asked why 28 dollar and the guy said the eleventh is free. So, it seems your big warning turns out to be no warning this time — Chatswood Store
Thanks for confirming that.
Good to hear, the Chatswood store is the one I hit up last time.
yes i agree with mscaptian. the 'offer' last year was an utter farce… i bought 10 and couldn't redeem the coupon on the actual day and the T&Cs requires me to use the voucher on some stupid weekdays.
Damn, only just missed out - will be in Sydney on the 25th.
I usually shop at Maruyu though (not sure if it's still open!), they have a stamp card/all-year-round system - every $10 spent you receive a stamp, I think after 5 stamps you get one item ($2.50) free. Works for me since I always blow $30-$40 in there each visit, aka each year :)
Not a bad deal though, at least this has given me the addresses of Daiso so I'll check them out when I'm around, cheers!
Some of their products are very good and worth more than $2.80.
And also Japanese quality is great and better than a lot Kmart stuffs.
"Japanese" quality.
Japanese Market quality. made in china.
Still thought it's slightly better than the other $2 shops in Sydney at least.
Yeah made in China but they are the same quality that you can buy from Japan locally.
i think not all is from china? or maybe they wrote 'made in china' in japanese on the packaging. lol.
Most is from china, and it says made in china in Japanese.
A lot of their stock is made in China, but not all. I have bought crockery (tea cups, plates, bowls) from Daiso that are made in Japan. It varies.
Chanced upon them on Saturday. As everything's $2.80, some will obviously be better value than others. Nice being aw to browse in a nice, clean store however.
Daiso products are:
Y100 in Japan = $1.25 AUD
USD $1.50 in America = $1.46 AUD
HKG $10 in Hong Kong = $1.26 AUD
It seems ridiculous that we pay double here in Australia.
Yeah, sadly we pay extra for most things in Australia :(
Look at ikea:
http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2012/07/australia-has-the-most-…
http://www.smh.com.au/business/ikea-to-slash-prices-as-it-do…
"IKEA has tagged Australia as one of the most expensive places to do business and will double its store network here in coming years while slashing prices to remain competitive."
And actually not only to do business also to live.
I have been to 3 of them (chatswood, haymarket and town hall). Chatswood is a better and bigger store.