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A letter to Australia’s traditional retailers: it’s over

Emma Jane

by Emma Jane

08 Aug 05:45am

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Filed under: Economy, Internet Shopping, Retail, Shopping

116 comments

Dear Traditional Australian Retailers, 

I could do this naked if I wanted. Photo: Courier Mail

Finding the right words to say at a time like this is difficult so we’re going to get straight to the point. It’s over.

Obviously it would have been preferable to tell you face-to-face rather than via one of these tacky “Dear John” letters. But it’s not like you’ve been interested in personal contact lately. Which makes this an entirely appropriate way to break the bad news that it’s not us – it’s you.

You’ve changed. There was a time, back when our love was young, when you kept yourself nice and made us feel special.

You were full of seductive moves and skilled sales assistants who were very different to the listless, technically insensible and perennially unavailable retail zombies of today.

Amazingly enough, there were even times when you were TOO attentive.

Remember that crazy summer when low-rise jeans had their first, big post-1960s revival? We knew bum cleavage and tiny one-inch zippers were very silly ideas. But as obedient slaves to fashion we dutifully arrived in your designer denim emporiums ready to spend.

And as we disrobed in your demi-private cubicles – struggling desperately with the psychic assault of seeing our rear ends Eschered in a multitude of reflective surfaces – we probably would have preferred some quiet time.

Yet you couldn’t bear the thought of us undressing alone.

So you’d send in one of your eternally perky sales chicks who’d chirp “howyagoinwithsizesdahlwhatchadointonighthotenoughforya?” .

And she’d yank back the curtain to expose our straining muffin tops to a phalanx of her colleagues, each of whom gushed more effervescently about those dreadful bumsters than the next.

Then there’d be relay runs for alternative sizes and slightly different styles and exactly the same thing only with yellow stitching.

Then – after a bouquet of beautiful lies about the supernatural slimming properties of absolutely everything we tried on – we’d leave with our spirits large and our wallets small.

Ah, happy days. We had money and you made it exquisitely easy to hand it over to you. But somewhere along the line, you let yourself go – or, to be more accurate, you let all your most friendly and knowledgeable staff go.

Now your retail outlets are hostile, help-free zones: homes to skeleton crews of rude representatives who act as if they’re doing us a massive favour by relieving us of our hard-earned riches. 

Your electronic shops offer zero expert guidance and Centrelink-length queues.

Your bra stores are bereft of those overfriendly middle-aged women who could source double boulder shoulder holders for even the most recalcitrant bosoms.

You’ve come over all Basil Fawlty in that you seem to think you could run a first-rate business if only you didn’t have to deal with all those damned dreadful customers.

Well, we’ve finally realised we deserve better.

Like a sheltered small-town nubile who assumes she must marry the hairy-back next door because he’s the only boy she’s ever known, we used to think your prices were just what people had to pay. 

But now we know you charge what you charge not because this is needed to cover manufacture, distribution and a modest mark-up – but because this is what we’ve been prepared to pay.

Well, excuse us for disrupting such a blissfully supply-centric view of economics, but shameless price discrimination only works if you can keep your markets in splendid isolation.

And we’ve been on the capitalistic equivalent of a backpacking gap year. Did you really think we wouldn’t cotton onto the complacent parochialism of your uncompetitive and self-serving ways?

Did you really think we wouldn’t notice that a Weber Smokey Joe Grill BBQ costs $99.95 here but only $US29.70 ($A27.03) in the US?

Did you really think we wouldn’t start to wander? 

Obviously we tried to stay together for the sake of the children (they do love the colour and movement of your hermetically sealed malls on rainy days).

We tried to keep going through the motions; to keep fondly browsing your aisles and lovingly slipping money into your registers.

But we have needs, goddammit. Huge, insatiable spending needs. And so we began looking for satisfaction elsewhere.

It’s hard to know where it started with the internet. At first it was just a harmless flirtation. A little e-commerce here. A little cyber trade there. 

But then we realised buying stuff online was something serious; something real.

That’s why Australia’s internet economy was worth about $50 billion in 2010 and is forecast to rise to $70 billion over the next five years. In other words, this is no longer just a fling or a bit on the side. It’s a committed relationship.

It’s true that online shopping has downsides. Unlike the instant gratification offered by the transactions we used to share, there is invariably a wait. 

But this delay has a tantric delectability and imbues the arrival of the postie with an indisputable frisson. 

And the thing, the really beautiful thing, about e-tailers is that they come to us. Day or night, they’re always there.

Do they demand we get all dressed up just for the privilege of spending time and money with them? No they do not. In fact they do not require us to get dressed at all.

Last Sunday night we bought six sets of timber venetian blinds entirely nude except for a cucumber face mask and the remains of a pair of overloved ugg boots.

And the internet couldn’t get enough of us.

Not that you’re prepared to face the fact that you’ve been cuckolded. 

So far we’ve watched you go through denial, anger, bargaining, depression and dobbing us in to the government for not paying GST on overseas purchases. 

It’s the Kübler-Ross grief cycle except that you’re likely to hit bankruptcy before achieving acceptance and adaptation. 

In the meantime, please don’t demean yourself by trying to reinvent yourselves via clunky brick-and-click business models. Offering the same prices you do in-store plus the addition of massive postage fees won’t fool anyone.

And refrain, if you could, from all the finger pointing. We’re sick of being blamed every time a book store shuts or consumer confidence officially dives. The brutal truth is that we still like shopping. Just not with you.

So there you have it, Traditional Australian Retailers. We’ll always treasure the happy capitalism we shared and hopefully we can still be friends. 

But until you drop your prices, offer more stuff and deliver to our doors (or, at the very least, stop insulting us with sales assistants who offer no sales assistance), the love affair is over. 

No longer yours,

Australia’s Purchasing Public

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116 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • thatmosis says:

      06:34am | 08/08/11

      You only have to look at the “sales ” to realise the rip offs that were occuring during normal trading. Then with the internet we all realised that we were being ripped off but its not really all the fault of the retailer. Penalty rates, taxes and all the other costs associated with hiring a worker add to the prices but then again its doesnt cover the greed either. Its better to make a small profit on 100 items than no profit on one overpriced item but that seems to ellude the thinking of most retailers. I very rarely go to a retail store now as most items I want are cheaper on the net and the service is the same or better.

      Reply

    • Bruce says:

      09:32pm | 08/08/11

      Agree: Business’s located in large shopping centres pay astronomical amounts of rent to the shopping complex owners, as well as high labour costs etc and overheads. However, I will seek out the best deal for me, and if its over the internet, then so be it. Australian business and government needs to get serious and look for a new business model before many business’s go under.

    • Unionist says:

      06:50am | 08/08/11

      Classic…. thanks for the giggle. I hope there are some retailers reading this.

      Reply

    • Tom says:

      09:54am | 08/08/11

      I am sure they are reading and already have a plan for retrenching thousands of Australian workers. I ain’t giggling.

    • Mattb says:

      11:10am | 08/08/11

      Gee Tommy, bit down in the dumps today eh fella?, so much negativity.

      Got to pull your chin up off your chest, lift that bottom lip and smile for once mate. No one’s suggesting your right to go and shop in a retail store and pay premium prices is going to be taken away from you, if that’s what tickles your fancy…

    • Tom says:

      01:46pm | 08/08/11

      MattB, thanks for visiting my postings. Giving you the benefit of the doubt and not treating you as a troll, I am not sure you got the point of what I was saying to “unionist” re the current retail model.

      Aussie retail is uncompetitive because of wage costs. Lower costs in retail or other services will translate to lower employment opportunities to Aussie shop floor workers.

      As much as anyone, I have Ebayed, internetted to pay bills etc. It has been a boon for me. On the other hand, I find it hard to thoughtlessly snigger at retailers stuck in the old world paradigm.

    • Mattb says:

      05:53pm | 08/08/11

      Tom, so you find it hard to “thoughtlessly snigger at retailers stuck in the old world paradigm”, regardless of the fact they’ve been sniggering at all of us for decades as we’ve been stuck in the ‘old world paradigm’ and payed their 200% mark ups.

      That’s very noble of you Tom, however, I see it differently. If I buy a product online (like I said earlier 90% of the time from an aussie online retailer) for $50 less than what I would at a bricks and mortar retailer, that gives me the same product and $50 left in my wallet. That spare $50 then enables me to either

      1) make another purchase from another online aussie store
      2) buy a couple of kilos of snags and steaks and invite my mates around for a barbie, they bring beer
      3) put it towards bills
      4) increase my savings account
      5) any number of other options

      Now from what I can gather from your post, correct me I’m wrong of course, you say that is wrong because it may result in some person, who doesn’t know me and probably doesn’t give a crap about me, missing out on a retail employment opportunity on the shop floor.

      Well, if I go with your reasoning and pay the full amount at the bricks and mortar store, then I’d have to forgo umm, lets say option 2). But that could, using your logic, mean a young lad might miss out on an apprenticeship at my local butcher shop right?

      Tommy my good man, I know which option my mates would have me choose!

    • Tom says:

      08:45pm | 08/08/11

      MattB, my fault. I obviously don’t explain well enough. Gerry Harvey will miss out on his Mercedes. Bewdy mate, let’s all cheer. But thousands of workers will be out of a job as the big retailers will just retrench Aussie workers.

      Just in case “Unionist” called himself by that name out of some association with bodies that represent workers, I find it incredible stupid that the man should gloat over a situation that involves workers’ pain.

      Correct me if I am wrong, but your last three paras seem to indicate that those people don’t know you and don’t give a stuff about you so you don’t give a stuff about them?

      No-one is suggesting you to go back to “bricks and mortar” shopping. It is a free country.

      However, sniggering at “retailers” being some sort of rich bastards getting their come-uppence is deadly stupid. That adversarial “us and them” model is brain-dead.

    • acotrel says:

      06:55am | 08/08/11

      Australian retailers had a major windfall when tariffs were removed.  The result was that Australian manufacturing moved offshore to exploit workers in third world countries, as their businesses could no longer compete with imports, while the unions maintained pressure to sustain wages and conditions.  Now it’s the turn of the opportunist retailers to get their come uppins! There has been continual pressure to erode industrial democracy in Australian workplaces, however no positive attempt has been made to reduce prices in a compatible way.  The retailers mightn’t like taking a hit, but the free market has spoken! There have been job losses in manufacturing, and now there will be losses in retailing.  However look on the bright side, we have a global market to sell to, with our non-existent manufacturing sector.

      Reply

    • acotrel says:

      07:04am | 08/08/11

      Regardless of penalty rates, taxes,cost of OHS and quality management systems, There is no way that Australian manufacturing industry as it was in the Menzies era, could ever have existed without tariff protection. Both Howard, and Keating new that when they played the neoliberal card, and introduced the free market economy to Australia.  Howard was obsessed with crushing the unions, Keating was an ideologue.  The result is that the game is stuffed!  It might be convenient to bash the unions over our industries’ demise, but smart politicians would have found a win-win solution!

      Reply

    • sir ronald bradnam says:

      07:14am | 08/08/11

      In the local mall onit… ti… green and white shoes $179.00 and a pair of converse ch…. tay… $125.00 they look damn fine on me and I want and will have.
      purchase online and ship to friends house in the USA, $52.00 and $45.00 dont mind at all that I have to wait 10 days to wear these little beauties or pay an additional $32 for shipping. this shopping is the future until those bastard retailers wake up to the fact that we wont get ripped off any longer.
      Im spending as much as I always did its just my online dollar goes a lot further than my aus dollar.

      Reply

    • Gregg says:

      07:15am | 08/08/11

      There are no doubt going to be many love/hate affairs with internet shopping when the need for after sales service starts to arise or in just finding that the latest boulder holder isn’t quite right and then you have to go through the process all over again.

      Reply

    • Roy says:

      09:47am | 08/08/11

      Gregg, In the USA many online shops offer free postage and return postage (within the USA) if you are not happy.
      When will our shops wake up?

    • acotrel says:

      11:40am | 08/08/11

      How could you not notice Gerry Harvey’s lates ads on TV?  The sound levels are pumped way up, and the ads are aggressive and annoying.  Sorry Gerry, it doesn’t work for me.  I’ll never shop at Harvey Norman again! There’s an old saying Gerry -  ‘half a loaf is better than none’!  You should learn it.

    • Eva says:

      05:12pm | 08/08/11

      Greg,

      I agree. I am so over returning stuff that doesn’t fit and I am still waiting for online retailers to give the fabric composition of clothes. I know that to get a bra or a pair of shoes that fit I still have to go to a real shop and try things on. I am not looking forward to the day, which is rapidly approaching, when I have no choice but to buy online, wait at least a week to then find out whether I need to return for the next size up or down.

    • Scarlett Street Rocker says:

      07:33am | 08/08/11

      It’s been a while since I felt compelled to comment on anything written on the PUNCH but this article says everything I think about retail.
      It is the way it is!
      Great article.

      Reply

    • Tom says:

      10:08am | 08/08/11

      My daughter got her start in retail.

    • Reg says:

      11:18am | 08/08/11

      I got my start in your daughter…

    • Tom says:

      11:26am | 08/08/11

      She speaks very highly of you Reg.

    • Alfie says:

      11:28am | 08/08/11

      @ Tom, my grandfather got his start clearing out the boilers of steam engines, what is your point?

    • Mattb says:

      11:42am | 08/08/11

      Reg, priceless, just priceless….

      Tom, good comeback too, see, ya can smile….

    • Alfie says:

      12:03pm | 08/08/11

      Alfie, agreed. The serious point is that, like steam engines, coal mining in Britain, we need to avoid the uglier aspects of Thatcherism if retail we know is to fail. People like Gerry Harvey won’t suffer in dealing with the transition. They will just move to the internet thing.

      Without retail, will there be someone else to give a start to younger Australians?

    • Tom says:

      12:10pm | 08/08/11

      Apologies Alfie. I put your name in wrongly.

    • Mahhrat says:

      08:14am | 08/08/11

      The only - and I mean only - real concern with this is the loss of jobs and its effect on our economy - all of our money going to offshore retailers.

      What might just happen, if we’re smart, is we re-develop some of our manufacturing capabilities, but in things suited to a true first world economy - innovative new products, technology and so on.

      We’ve got a lot of catching up to do, but I don’t know what other options we have now - we can bring in exciting new products developed and built here, or we can not have jobs for our kids.

      Reply

    • Tubesteak says:

      09:17am | 08/08/11

      As I’ve said many times on The Punch, we need to get away from the idea of being a primary or secondary economy.

      We need to be a tertiary economy. This means professional services: ie banking, law, teaching, accounting, investment banagement, engineering consulting, IT etc.

      Be the brains behind the operation and not the grunt.

    • Mattb says:

      12:27pm | 08/08/11

      @Mahharat

      “The only - and I mean only - real concern with this is the loss of jobs and its effect on our economy - all of our money going to offshore retailers.”

      The ball is in the Australian retailers court, they either restructure, survive and prosper or stick to their current path and die. The Australian consumer is looking to the Internet for REAL value for money. The Australian retailer has to stop whinging about it and start making moves to grab their market share.

      Sure, there will be job losses in the ‘bricks and mortar’ retailers, but new jobs will emerge around the online market (IT, warehousing, logistics, marketing etc). Yes, some jobs will leak overseas, but hey, that’s life in the free market global economy. Restructure and grab your share NOW or whinge and moan while your customer builds online relationships with your competitors.

      You and I, mahhrat can do our bit to help, stick to the old ‘Buy Australian’
      attitude, 90% of the products I buy online still come from Australian online retailers.

    • Tom says:

      02:05pm | 08/08/11

      Mattb, “The ball is in the Australian retailers court, they either restructure, survive and prosper or stick to their current path and die.” ... or move business offshore. It is not just the retailers who will need to survive this. The real world does not work that way.

      Good on you for buying “from Australian on-line retailers”. How did you know who owned the business?

    • Mattb says:

      03:47pm | 08/08/11

      @ Tom
      “How did you know who owned the business?”

      Research, Tommy my friend, it’s called research…

    • acotrel says:

      05:20am | 09/08/11

      @Tubesteak I take your point about Australia moving more towards a service based economy, and I’ve often wondered about it.  A couple of weeks ago I was in the Gold Coast on holiday.  The nice tour guide lady mentioned the increase in youth crime in the Mt Tambourine area, where a policeman was recently shot in the face.  I said to her that Surfers Paradise seems to be built on nothing, that I couldn’t see where relatively inskilled kids would get work.  There seems to be no manufacturing industry base.  I am a scientist, and very adaptable.  That doesn’t mean I expect everyone to have the same ability.  In addition my profession was primarilty involved in hi-tech engineering based companies which seem to be now disappearing.  If Australian engineers a nd scientists do nothing to exercise their skill, we lose our abilities, then we won’t even be able to teach people from developing countries.  There will be no experienced/competent professionals left here.  And academics only know what they’ve been told by the people who do the real work.

    • Peter T says:

      08:19am | 08/08/11

      Retail is not dying, it’s just lost its way a bit. I don’t buy for one minute the convenient argument from Harvey et al, that bricks and mortar retail is dying. And I take exception to the spin approach, aligning online shopping with overseas outlets only. They conveniently put the two together - “buying from overseas online sites”, for example. We do a fair bit of online shopping, but the vast majority - bar the rare exception - is from AUSTRALIAN online sites. The FACT is that consumers are a lot wiser now - forced by increasing financial pressures - and are adopting the same strategy that business has taken for a long time. That is, actively seek out the best product at the best price, even if it means buying in bulk. That’s another strategy we’ve adopted. We take advantage of volume discounts where offered (and practical). Shower gel comes in bulk from manufacturer in NSW, dog food from the local produce store in 22kg bags, nappies from a local wholesaler (who offers free delivery on quantity purchases). It comes down to the golden rule - He who has the gold, rules. MY gold, MY rules!

      Reply

    • Crissie K says:

      08:53am | 08/08/11

      Totally agree Peter. Some items are just not available in Australia either. I had purchased a computer from Harvey Norman for $1600 instore, then wanted a 2nd computer. I bought one online from an Australian company in Victoria for $600. A saving of $1000. The 2 computers are identical, just different brands, but both Australian. Why wouldn’t I shop online?

    • Scarlett Street Rocker says:

      09:19am | 08/08/11

      I regularly view Australian online sites and am still very surprised to find that they charge at least a third more for the same product found on overseass sites. I don’t need buy bulk to save. As a consequence my business / Gold travels far.

    • George says:

      09:35am | 08/08/11

      Yeah. Retail still went up by 2.6%.

      People like to get into their cars and go shopping. Always have, always will. Even though when I do it I feel like a bit of a girl and I want to bash someone.

      I think there’s just been a flood of shops selling the same electronics, and people have their TV, their camera, their laptop and are all set now.

      But they’ve lost me on clothes. I’m not going to pay $200 per item for quality stuff. For that I shall be using the internet.

      Four articles on retail and not one of them mentions the obscene cost of rent. Lame.

    • Mattb says:

      11:35am | 08/08/11

      Totally agree Peter, 90% of the products the missus and I buy online come from Australian companies. The product always arrives promptly, in perfect condition and, more importantly, at times half the price we would pay at the shops.

    • John S says:

      08:39am | 08/08/11

      Ah Emma, you’ve done it again! Thanks mate.

      Reply

    • marley says:

      08:58am | 08/08/11

      Last week I was looking for a little software program.  I would have been perfectly happy to buy it on-line from an Australian vendor (there’s no local computer shop where I live).  The best price I could find was 129.99.  I ordered it on-line from a Canadian source and had my sister there mail it to me.  Cost:  39.99 plus about 10 bucks for postage. 

      This isn’t an issue of Australia not producing the software, because Canada didn’t produce it either.  This is an issue of Australia simply being noncompetitive globally - maybe this country’s comparative isolation has led retailers and governments to believe that there’s no need to compete - but in a globalized economy, that’s just not good enough.  When I can get a better price on a book, AND better service, from the UK than from a local book shop, well, keeping surly retail staff employed is not going to be top of my agenda.

      Reply

    • Just Sayin' says:

      05:17pm | 08/08/11

      That’s still a rip off… 10 bucks to post you some lines of code?  Did you ask them if they had heard of ‘downloading’?

    • Elphaba says:

      08:59am | 08/08/11

      Well said!  Summarises perfectly why we’re looking elsewhere.

      Reply

    • Anna C says:

      09:05am | 08/08/11

      I have no sympathy for retailers and their tales of woe. Is it any wonder that people are increasingly buying things online when you consider how much retailers have been ripping us off? Just like Albert Finney’s character in “Network” “we’re mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore.”

      Reply

    • Paul says:

      08:46pm | 08/08/11

      Dear Anna ,it was that great Australian actor Peter Finch,but I agree with your sentiment.

    • heather says:

      09:09am | 08/08/11

      I don’t mind buying at shops if the price is only slightly more expensive, but double? I bought 2 pairs of shoe at Amazon, for 1/3 the price of locally. And I bought an SLR camera for half the price of Australia. Also, if local retailers are going to compete online, they have to lift their game. If you go on most large retailer websites, all they have is their CATALOGUES, like in the junk mail. I dont want to look at your catalogue, I want to see ALL your goods, with prices!!! One large retailer even had a pdf form that you had to download and POST. Is this the 1950s?

      Reply

    • engineer says:

      12:46pm | 08/08/11

      Precisely. It’s not like the 10% GST is going to make any difference. The prices are often half or less. I’ll happily pay a premium to buy locally but not one that big.

      Some Australian retailers do offer great service, and I value that, but nearly all the US ones I’ve dealt with over the last 15 years have been exceptional.

    • Polly says:

      09:16am | 08/08/11

      We have reached the beginning of the Jetson age. (remember the Jetsons?) A few pushes of a button and there you have it - what-ever you want or need. Just be sure you know your size and keeping the postman happy he still has a job.

      Reply

    • G says:

      09:24am | 08/08/11

      I am looking at buying a camera.  For the exact same model:

      - Harvey norman $1600.
      - Online Australian estore.  $900.

      The retailers and their symbiotic shopping centre overloads (eg: westfield)have built their empires and made billions and billions with record profits gorging themselves on Australians wallets for the last 30 years. 

      And then have the never to complain about consumers leaving them.

      Reply

    • subotic says:

      11:55am | 08/08/11

      - Online American Walmart estore $350 plus free shipping anywhere in the world. Australian retailers are over, deader than the Dodo. Good ridance schmucks. Rude service, or, NO service, for overpriced items and limited choices? Altho I admit I hate my dollars going overseas, at least they leave me some dollars to keep myself and my family alive, unlike stores here.

    • Sam says:

      09:38am | 08/08/11

      This article is spot on! For our whole history we have been isolated on this island of ours, we had no opportunity of purchasing overseas unless we were lucky enough to travel. The Big Retailers in this country knew exactly that they had us over the proverbial barrel.

      We have for our entire lives had to put up with limited choice and no option but to pay the massive mark ups. We have had retailers like Harvey Norman who’s ear shattering TV commercials have tried to convince us that their products are at rock bottom prices and you cant find a better price anywhere, well Im sorry but I have found better sources with better prices.

      Then Gerry spits the dummy and says “Oh its not fair! that Australians dont have to pay GST on items under $1000 bought overseas.” , Well Gerry If you add the 10% GST on these items we are still saving huge sums of money! But as the same way they run their business they refuse to listen to the customer.

      Myers and David Jones are trying to implement Novelties to attract shoppers back, like Botox Clinics, WTF !!!!!  How hard is for these guys to understand that we dont want Gimmicks, we dont want a different sale every week with most items still way over priced, we dont give a hoot about the $1000 GST limit, we want choice, we want proper competition and realistic prices, we want service, we want the stores to listen.

      A couple of years ago I needed a knew small Airbrush for art, I called every supplier I could find in Australia to get a price, the best price I could find for the model I wanted was approx $250-00 AUD, so I decided to do some online searching overseas, Low and behold I found a small (and I mean SMALLL)  online retailer in the USA, his price, INCLUDING POSTAGE, delivered to my front door was $95-00 AUD ! For exactly the same model, and that was when our dollar sucked big time!

      Myers and DJ’s etc have to wake up and see that we know they source most of their items from China, we know they probably pay $5-00 (or less) for that Jumper that they then put on the shelf for $110-00, the people of this country have finally been given a tool to allow them to find the best deal, and thats what the stores here hate, they hate that we the consumers have been given a tool/weapon, and the retailers will cry foul again and again because they are no longer the only shop in town.

      Reply

    • Joe Logan says:

      10:23am | 08/08/11

      Gerry is right - I have been purchasing products on-line(and manufactured overseas) for nearly 10 years now, and paying GST on all those items - so have tens of thousands of others.
      Why should not all items be charged GST?
      0nly reason is that Governments and retailers denied/ignored what was happening, and did not have the funds to implement a system.
      If I pay GST weekly for items products made in US and NZ, why should not someone pay it for a book bought from Amazon?
      I have bought books from Amazon and have not paid GST as well.

    • Derek says:

      10:40am | 08/08/11

      @Joe Logan,  the cost to collect GST on all overseas purchases will exceed the GST collected,  $1k is a good compromise.

    • Barry says:

      12:18pm | 08/08/11

      Isn’t the GST a goods and services tax? Why should I pay 10% to australia if the goods and service (apart from final delivery. Who does that by the way?) come from elsewhere.

    • Kika says:

      09:52am | 08/08/11

      I love my online shopping. My husband is a little more hesitant than I am, because he likes to see, feel and try things before he makes the splash. But I am totally addicted to online cosmetic shopping now. I can’t believe how much I am saving. I can afford the top notch products now and my skin is thanking me for it.
      Screw you retailers… you thought you’d rip us off while the AUD was high. Well, we’re smarter than you think. Plus we travel more than we used to back in the 60’s. Travelling around the world and seeing prices for things OS makes you realise how much we are jammed by retailers back home.  JAMMED.

      Reply

    • Joe Logan says:

      10:35am | 08/08/11

      Kika,

      Are the “Top notch” brands paying you a profit-share?
      Are they paying you to refer others?

    • marley says:

      11:09am | 08/08/11

      @Joe Logan - price a copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 from an Australian source, and from an American source.  Then tell me why I should pay double to buy generic software in Australia.

    • Kika says:

      01:05pm | 08/08/11

      Of course they are not. I refer others because of the good service I get and the bargains I get for shopping with them. I don’t receive any of those perks except loyalty discounts. The more I shop with them the bigger the discount I get. This is something retailers could adopt too. All those store cards are just absolute rip offs and you don’t get anything for it.

      I’d like to see your Myer Card actually reward you for shopping with them. You have to spend $1K a quarter just to get a discount voucher. It’s a rort. Give us a small % off everytime we shop with you and you’ll ger your customers back for sure.

    • Jade says:

      04:59pm | 08/08/11

      Kika… what is this store you speak of? cheap, but good quality cosmetics make me happy! smile

    • Grace Rey says:

      09:54am | 08/08/11

      While prices have dropped due to a strong Australian dollar, the availability of a wide range of choices remains a sore point.  Take for example Birkenstock, the sandals company.  Birkenstock’s outlet at our local mall didn’t inspire me.  Compare this to Birkenstock’s store in Singapore.  It was something to behold.  All makes and sizes, colours and styles were available and amazing prices too.

      Reply

    • Jake says:

      10:02am | 08/08/11

      For four years I owned and operated a specialist retail store in a major shopping centre, We had some success because I set it up as a “one stop shop” for the industry. Any item purchased from us could be serviced on site and I had an electronics technician on staff so that about 97% of warranty claims and repairs could also be handled “on-site” (that was an effort because trying to get the suppliers to agree to allow my technician to carry out warranty repairs rather then send them back to Sydney or Melbourne was a hell of a drama). In fact we were doing major warranty repairs in store while the customers waited in a coffee shop having coffee on my account. They got the items back within an hour or two instead of a week or two. We had a great and successful “point of difference”. I ended up walking away from the business, why ??? Because the importers and suppliers (47 of them), who were driving current model Mercedes Benz’s, BMW’s and Porches with Harley Davidsons and playthings (while I drove a 10 year old Mitsubishi), forced the prices so high and the retail margins so skinny that, to be competitive, my retail margins ended up at 10% to 15% while the suppliers (who in most industries operate on about 5%) were gouging between 30% and 35%. In addition, the shopping centre was charging $12,000 per month rent. What was the point of continuing? I guess that my point is that, except for the predatory and whinging large retail chains, much of the blame for Australia’s less than effective retail industry lies with the greedy and unscrupulous importers / suppliers and the shopping centre owners and managers, not necessarily with the retailers and certainly not with smaller retailers.

      Reply

    • Fred says:

      10:57am | 08/08/11

      Have to agree with Jake here. Whilst the article raises some pertinent points, the vitriol is somewhat misguided. It’s the importers/distributors and Westfields of the world that are making retail unaffordable for both business owners and shoppers alike. And in the process, the niche shops like Jake’s are being replaced with chain stores that offer poor service and the same product lines as every other chain store. Shame really.

    • Mark says:

      08:35pm | 08/08/11

      Hey Jake - I have the same sort of business with a certain fruit branded technology company as a reseller in QLD.  We are a one-stop-shop, providing the product, the service/warranty support, the training and the nice supportive atmosphere.  What does my fruity manufacturer give me?  Yup, 8% on hardware and 15% on accessories.  6% on tablets.  Also pays me peanuts on warranty work.  Why do it?  I ask myself every day.  Not every retailer gets great margins….as you know.

    • Bill Smith says:

      10:05am | 08/08/11

      I have always been sorry for the retailers who, it seems, have to pay the greedy Mall owners something like $12.000 or $15.000 rent per month. Just think where this ransom has to come from. Us of course. I would never become a retailer just to make the Mall owners billionaires at my expense.

      Reply

    • Killy_ says:

      10:56am | 08/08/11

      Traditional retailing in Australia is not at the end game - this is especially so for the big retailers. The imminent launch of the Kindle e-reader at Big W and Dick Smith will be an interesting test case for the ‘bricks and mortar are doomed’ thesis. Since the Kindle’s inception, Australians have needed to buy this trendy technology online. Despite this, Amazon’s e-reader has proven itself a popular device here, especially since the launch of Borders’ Kobo e-reader raised antipodean awareness of e-reading devices. However, even in the face of the slight price increase at the Woolworths-owned chains, will online sales of the Kindle outpace the quantity moved by traditional retailing? I’m doubtful.

      Reply

    • Kebabpete says:

      11:04am | 08/08/11

      My mate and I have an on going competition to see who can source the biggest discount from an OS online retailer. Some of the best ones so far:

      1. Wallabies Jersey - $145 in Oz, $49 from UK
      2. Wii remote - $69 in Oz, $28 from UK
      3. Bicycle lamp and tail light - $24 in Oz, $4.59 from Hong Kong
      4. Silicone phone cover - $24 in Oz, $3.20 (for 2!) from Hong Kong
      5. HTC mobile phone - $799 in Oz, $450 from US

      And the best of all was a wine rack from the US which was $349 in Oz, and only $81 from the US, and I ordered it on Friday and it arrived on Monday!

      And everyone one of those included shipping!

      I recently went to order a belt from an Oz online retailer until they quoted “up to 30 days for delivery from date of purchase”, and the delivery charge for a single belt weighing less than 1kg was $22!! Seriously, WTF! 

      Its to the point now that I actually look online o/s first before going into a shop here.

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      11:20am | 08/08/11

      A bottle of Penfolds Grange for $599 in Oz.
      Same bottle in the US, $189.

      Confirmed by a Bottlo’ Manager in Brissy CBD.

    • sir ronald bradnam says:

      01:44pm | 08/08/11

      Prime rib fillet at localdiscount bulk buy butcher shop $24.95 a kg. In a candian super market in vancouver last week genuine fresh chilled Australian Prime Beef Fillet $11.99.

    • Joe Lokan says:

      11:08am | 08/08/11

      @ Derek   -  Yes, partly my point.
                  -  Then why should I and tens of thousands of others be paying GST on every item purchased (and manufactured overseas) ?
      Just because the Corporation who manufacture its own products,facilitates and supplies is efficicent and compliant, while Government and importers are not?
      Play dumb and get rewarded -  when the Government wakes up, see if GST is “too expensive to implement” then.
      Some people are waking up -some never will.

      Reply

    • Mattb says:

      11:18am | 08/08/11

      Dear Punch,

      Could you please provide photographic evidence that the chick in the photo could, as it claims, “do it naked if she wanted”.

      Please.

      Reply

    • Kebabpete says:

      11:29am | 08/08/11

      @Mattb - The Punch team always say they like to show both sides of the coin so i think its only right they do this. They’d only being ruining their good rep if they didn’t.

    • The musics a bit loud says:

      11:39am | 08/08/11

      I’m an on line shopper not due to pricing but because shopping malls are just for young people and not for middle aged folk like me.

      Reply

    • Al Chunk says:

      11:43am | 08/08/11

      I’m kicking myself as I’ve just spent $750 on new glasses and have just seen them on line for $250 from an Australian online store - sniff sniff blub whaaaaa never again….

      Reply

    • heather says:

      01:05pm | 08/08/11

      Yes, glasses are a HUGE ripoff. there is no way in a million years that some small pieces of metal and plastic could cost so much. And as for an idea on how much markups retailers add, just go between the major retailers, say JB, HN, GG, JM and compare prices…if you say shop A has the item for X, shop B will blithely subtractdollars from their price…then you go to shop C, and so on. Went to JB over the wkend, TV for 4200, salesperson said, you can have it for 3800. Went to GG, said, JB have it for 3700, they promptly dropped another 200! when i get them down to 3000, then I might buy it!

    • bananabender says:

      02:56pm | 08/08/11

      Optometrists only pay $4 wholesale for those $400 designer frames.

      The optometry business relies on massive margins to cover tiny turnover.

    • Jake says:

      12:06pm | 08/08/11

      I few of these shopping centers should be turned into hospitals. We’re gonna need them.

      Reply

    • Utopia Boy says:

      12:22pm | 08/08/11

      My modus operandi for online shopping is this:
      Go to the shopping centre AKA small city within a city.
      Walk 2 kms to get to the store selling the item I’m looking for.
      Compare items and prices in store.
      Get parking validated by buying something cheap.
      Go home and buy the item I chose from the comparison check, online.
      Smile, smile, smile.

      Reply

    • Manny Mickle says:

      01:04pm | 08/08/11

      You missed the joy of:

      Not parking
      Not travelling
      Not gong into a god forsaken mall. 

      Surely these are the real benefits of online shopping

    • Lauren Reading says:

      12:38pm | 08/08/11

      I’ve actually had much better after-sales service from online retailers than most actual physical stores- who seem to employ a lot of very young, inexperienced and uncaring staff who are often rude and unhelpful. Give me no-fuss free returns to an online store any day! If prices in actual shops were only a little more expensive I’d prefer to shop there, especially for clothing to ensure colour & fit is good. But for things like books, homewares, skincare etc it is ridiculous to pay 3 times (or more) the price in a shop than online. I recently bought a uni textbook from bookdepository.co.uk for $38 with free shipping (from the UK to Tassie) whereas in the uni bookshop it was $96 on sale. There is just no comparison.

      Reply

    • Joe Lokan says:

      01:12pm | 08/08/11

      @ marley   -what is your point?

      Reply

    • lance boils says:

      01:16pm | 08/08/11

      I have a traditional commercial office supply business and 2 online web pages selling similar products . The traditional business works on a average mark up of between 42 & 50 % the online sites 25 % .The traditional business out sells the 2 online sites buy more than 10 to 1 so i am a little sceptical at all these folk who keep smirking about the death of retail . The web pages were well worth the effort and cost to set up and i am in the process of setting up another but that said i cant see the original business closing down anytime soon as much as i would like to shut it down . The online orders require a hell of as lot less work and thats the point retail cost more because it reqires far more effort and expense not because the business owners are greedy

      Reply

    • glenm says:

      01:30pm | 08/08/11

      Oh Emma yes the retailers big and small all got together one sunday afternoon and decided to fire all thier staff and jack up prices.  Of course those big nasties like coles, woolies and harvey norman convinced all the small family owned bussiness to join them. You know they have been treating us like fools for years making us pay more in the shops than online.  God forbid they might want to pay thier staff the award wage, make sure they pay superannuation, submitted the GST, payroll tax, holiday pay and sick leave entitlements. They want to pay double time and extra time pay, they might also like to pay rent on the store and possibly turn on the lights so we can see what we are buying.  And now why not pay some maternity leave as well.
      I am sure they dont mind when we go into the store try on the clothes and then go home and buy them online from another country that is paying $8 per hour for staff rather then $15. No they like to come in every day including Sundays and watch you stuff your muffin top into that pair of low riders.
      Yes things are so much cheaper online just the other day I saved $30 on some jeans I needed, yes online they are cheaper and that american retailer is in desparate need of my money they might default on thier debt I hear. I am glad to help Australian retailers have had it so good for too long, it doesnt matter if we lose a few more jobs in retail we can send those wafer thin shop girls to the mining town plenty of work up there I hear. The government really does have a good plan to fix the two speed economy , shut one down completely and presto we are a one speed economy again.
      Better that the retail industry close down then we can all sit around half naked buying stuff from the US their economy needs our money more than we do. Yes Emma its all the retailers fault its a conspiracy to drive them to the wall they are actually trying to lose money keep those customers away they are spoiling an otherwise perfect business plan.

      Reply

    • Scott-a-diddly says:

      08:58pm | 08/08/11

      Glenn darling, your enter key rang. Says she misses you ever so much, won’t you call her?

      Oh, and your little bit of sauce on the side, Miss Grammar rang too. She says she’s tired of you abusing her the way you do.

    • Gary says:

      01:43pm | 08/08/11

      Rhino Rack make an awesome offroad awning called the “Fox Wing”.  Now Rhino Rack are an Aussie company, and they design and manufacture the Fox Wing in Australia.  Brilliant, I will take on thanks - how much are they.  $850.  A quick search on eBay shows that if I lived in the USA I could buy one of these Aussie made by an Aussie company items for $525.  Needless to say I will not be buying one when I know they can manufacture, sell overseas, ship to the US and sell on eBay $300 cheaper than in a shop down the road from their factory

      Reply

    • Bill09 says:

      01:54pm | 08/08/11

      Boy ! Aren’t we all glad the Super Funds have invested our retirements in bricks and mortar Malls .!! Ah Well ,at least they’re consistent. ..

      Reply

    • The Battler says:

      01:59pm | 08/08/11

      I have a small retail business that employs 6 Australians, our sevice has to be the best otherwise we won’t stand a chance of surviving.
      Kebabpete says he can buy a Wallabies jersey from the UK for $49, we can provide all the service in the world but cannot compete with that price. A wallabies jersey made by Canterbury costs me $99, to get an account with Canterbury we had to sign an agreement prohibiting us from buying their products from anyone but Canterbury Australia. If we bought that jersey from the UK for $49, and got found out, we would lose our Canterbury account, and therefore would not be able to carry their other products eg NRL jerseys, Football boots, bags, apparel etc. This is the same for Nike, Asics, Adidas etc etc etc. So it’s hard for us when a customer tries on the jersey in our shop then buys it online, but who can blame them, I certainly don’t. Adding 10% GST to this won’t make any difference. However, the customer did choose to come into MY store so at that time of got him or her , I may not be able to sell that jersey based on price but there are lots of other products we can offer and it’s up to us to sell to them. Some retailers wait for customers to come in and buy, but you won’t survive like that, you have to have product knowledge and be able to sell. Yes in Australia we pay some of the highest rent in the world, our wages and conditions are higher and better than most of the world, but that’s what makes this country so good.  We have started an online store as well and things are promising in that area. It would be great having a level playing field in order to compete, but we haven’t, we’ve got to make the best of what we have. We won’t get every sale,  but we get enough and with good service we get return business.

      Reply

    • AdamC says:

      04:22pm | 08/08/11

      Battler, you bring some good perspectives here. At the end of the day, I think it is very difficult to understand the different factors and dynamics at work in the retail industry in this country.

    • Womble says:

      05:02pm | 08/08/11

      @Battler - so what you are saying is that you had to sign an agreement with Canterbury to pay their insane local prices for all items or they wont let you pay their insane local prices at all. Why not tell them to sling their hook and buy all your Canterbury stuff from the UK. Surely the option is a) Pay the local prices for all their goods, or b) Dont pay local prices for their goods at all. What I wonder is why you signed up to it in the first place, it is because stores sign up to these lock in deals that they still exist.

    • Lisa H. says:

      07:26pm | 08/08/11

      A business can’t be chasing up new suppliers for the same goods all the time… and what about being a part of new releases of new product? Let alone easy returns for damaged goods etc.

      Guaranteed supply, and continuity of supply are vital to a retailer.
      Usually, the question of ‘authenticity’ is best determined by buying directly from the supplying company, also. Many suppliers won’t take kindly to the unofficial sourcing of their goods.

      But I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments Womble, and feel it must come to this, eventually.

    • The Masked Commenter says:

      02:00pm | 08/08/11

      I will get some things online but others i prefer to go into the shop to see the product first hand. I buy all my books from Amazon. A few years ago I bought some books from Amazon for $56.99USD. I a well known book shop in Australia, the same book was $129.95. I cost me about $20 postage and i had to wait about 10 days but who cares given how much i saved.

      Large Electrical items i rarely buy online as i want to see the product and ask questions before purchasing. But i will look online to find the best deal before going in store.

      Reply

    • Jenni says:

      02:25pm | 08/08/11

      I bought a 4-book box set of the Game of Thrones from Amazon (who aren’t exactly know for being the cheapest, but I had a gift voucher wink and it cost me less than $40, including shipping. Even at Big W I would have paid more, around $13 per book; and somehow here it has become 5 books, as they split the fourth into Part 1 and 2 ... explain THAT to me! All up it would have been around $65, compared to the $40 I paid. At the larger book retailers it would have cost even more, each being around the $18 mark.

      Usually I buy my books on bookdepository - great prices for paperbacks, and FREE shipping internationally, no minimum order or anything. I can jump online any time I like and purchase even just one book for $10 and they will ship it, free. Or I can order a dozen or more - still free. Nothing in Australia can compare to that.

      I would rather purchase in Australia, and if it meant keeping Aussies employed I would happily pay an extra dollar or two, but it’s often a difference of $10 or more, and my budget just doesn’t cover that kind of extra charge for an identical product (especially given how many books I buy wink.

      Reply

    • cc says:

      07:53pm | 08/08/11

      It has always been split into two books. Its now 5 because a new one just came out.

    • bananabender says:

      02:46pm | 08/08/11

      Hong Kong wage $1/hour
      US wage $7/hour
      Australian wage $20-45/hour

      This is why everything costs far more in Australia.

      Buy everything overseas if you want. But don’t complain when your kids can’t get part time work or you lose your own job.

      Reply

    • marley says:

      04:07pm | 08/08/11

      Well, ask yourself does it make sense for your kid to be getting $45 an hour?  I’d rather have the kid getting $10 an hour and working in a competitive industry.

    • bananabender says:

      04:30pm | 08/08/11

      No it doesn’t make sense. However the union controlled Coles and Woolworths are happy keeping wages high because they can pass on the costs.  Small retailers don’t have that option.

    • stephen says:

      07:21pm | 08/08/11

      Then bananabender it is about time Julia did another backflip and de-regulated the labour market.
      Employers and their staff make their own arrangements for pay and conditions.

    • marley says:

      08:22pm | 08/08/11

      But isn’t that the point?  Among all the other causes of the malaise, an entirely unrealistic wage structure.  Penalty rates for a kid that only works weekends?  That’s just nonsense. 

      And I just checked minimum wages in Aus ($15.50 an hour) vs minimum wages back in my old home province of BC ($8.75 an hour - with no penalty rates unless you work over 40 hours) - so who’s more likely to have a job, your teenage Sydneysider or your teenage Vancouverite?

    • Michael says:

      02:59pm | 08/08/11

      It’s not online shopping that’s killed retail in Australia - retail here is perfectly well and kicking on… Thing is, like every other business in the Australia, retail is having to adjust to the changes that the rest of us have over the last 20 years - or they will, as so many businesses have, go broke. It’s perfectly simple. Business went global over the last decades, and now it’s retail’s turn to join the rest of us. They have lived in a lovely little bubble with no international competition and have been able to charge outrageous markeups and margins. Now they need to learn to adjust. It’s not that online shopping is killing them - competition is here in sectors like homewares. The likes of Victoria’s Basement are taking over. Likewise, fashion. Big international retailers are moving into our market - if it were dead, why would they do that now? Quite simply, we have many in the retail sector who are dinosaurs. They cannot continue selling as they always have, or we will use the options now available to us!

      Reply

    • bananabender says:

      03:39pm | 08/08/11

      “Big international retailers are moving into our market - if it were dead, why would they do that now?’

      You have to be kidding. Zara has one store. Costco has only three stores. Walmart have stated they have no intention of opening stores in Australia.

    • Heather says:

      03:16pm | 08/08/11

      The argument about wages is all very well if a product is manufactured here, but mostly these are imports. Also, there is something called service, which is often sadly lacking here. I have many o/seas friends and family, and they all comment how expensive Australia is. I don’t mind paying a premium for some things, if they are excellent products, sold with superb customer service and knowledgeable employees; but mostly the service is shoddy, the goods are cheap imports, and the sales stuff know virtually nothing about their product, and that brings another issue, it is NEVER IN STOCK. Why can I buy stuff overseas online and get it delivered sooner than I can buy locally? And some things are just plain outright blatant ripoffs: prescription glasses, books, software, movies, running shoes, cosmetics…to name just a few. Also, I hate shopping malls, so would much rather buy stuff online.

      Reply

    • bananabender says:

      03:51pm | 08/08/11

      Don’t you realise that there are massive overheads in rent, wages, distribution etc? These are far greater than the cost of the product.

    • marley says:

      04:03pm | 08/08/11

      @bananabender - yes, we realize there are overheads in terms of wages, rent, distribution, etc - that hardly explains why a product here costs two or three times what it costs in Canada - after all, the Canadians pay wages, rent and distribution costs as well.  There are a variety of factors here, but in my view Australia has become complacent and hasn’t prepared itself for the level of competition it is now encountering - and you can blame landlords (who may soon find their malls half-empty), distributors (who have been skimming a bit too much), major chains (way too lazy and uncompetitive), unrealistic unions and unthinking governments.

    • Danny Mosquito says:

      04:19pm | 08/08/11

      There are two main issues placing pressure on Aussie retail and that is price and technology. Technology is just one of those things and Aussie Retailers just have to live with it and get with the times and start moving quickly to an online age. My main point is based on the price factor. Now I do agree that Aussie retailers on average have been charging us way too much for items however I also believe some items that you purchase from overseas are way too cheap.  You know the items where you go “I just can’t understand how they can make it so cheap” and the answer in most cases at the end of the day is “well they can’t”, well at least not on Australian based wages. Even when you take into account the difference in cost of living the people involved, in the process of making these unbeleivable prices happen, are actually paid very little compared to our minimum wage.  You might say “So why should I care - this is what drives under developed countries to prosper.” Well to answer this I would like you to think about the whole world as a big competition. Every individual wants a slice of the pie to feed their family. Well to get your slice of the pie you need to be competitive and able to provide your human services cheaper than the next person. This is what creates the pressure to drive our own minimum wage down. With technology, especially online technology, more and more we have to start looking at the world as one big market place. Therefore you could say the minimum wage is actually a very unfair disadvantage on Aussie retailers when you consider the world stage.  This pressure to drive down the minimum wage has already been evident with calls on the government to slightly reduce the retail minimum wage.  Rightfully so the government has said “no” however this does nothing to solve the problem. So you’re left with two options:
      - do nothing and the Aussie retail worker loses his job and gets no money at all
      - or you place large taxes and tariffs equal to the costed difference of the wages of the competing countries and protect Australia’s way of life. 

      What we need now is to lower the taxes of fruit and veges, electricity and other necessary items and tax, tax, tax all this unecessary stuff we buy every day that is just way too underpriced. Even though we can’t afford any groceries at least we can afford to buy the latest Iphone gadget for only $2.50 from Hong Kong which would have usually been $25 from a retail outlet in Australia.
      Don’t get me wrong I always buy online to get the cheapest possible price however I also know there will come a time to pay the piper when we pay the price for getting items much cheaper than what they should be in a country like Australia.
      Anyway just a thought.

      Reply

    • Luke says:

      04:59pm | 08/08/11

      I can’t smoke anywhere where there are shops. But I can smoke at home wink

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      08:15pm | 08/08/11

      Hmmm…that reminds me.

      My girlfriend and I were passionately lovemaking and suddenly she pushed my shoulders up and said…‘honey, do you smoke in bed ?’

      to which I replied…‘hang on, I’ll have a look’.

    • Bitten says:

      05:19pm | 08/08/11

      Eh. I do a mix of both. And price has very little to do with it, so I am endlessly amused by the finger-wagging and bluster from the retailer lobbyists about how the GST-free threshold needs to be abolished. Won’t be diddly-squat of a difference to my shopping patterns, chums!

      See the thing is, retailers operate much like politicians. They create these grand schemes and policies/advertising campaigns under the delusion that they are addressing the concerns or the behavioural factors of the average voter/shopper. All the while operating in a freaking ivory bubble where there is absolutely no connection to reality. For example:
      DJ’s CEO Paul Zahra thinks new ads with Miranda Kerr will get me back into his stores. Um, really? Have you been in one of your own stores lately? Can you find a sales assistant? If you can (and it could take days) do they greet you pleasantly? Or do they treat you as a massive inconvenience in the middle of their day? Do they know anything about the products they supposedly are employed to sell? Or do you find yourself being told insistently “They don’t make it in that colour.” when in fact, ‘they’ do and you know this because you’ve seen it. Online. Do they tell you they are sold out of something as though that ends the customer’s enquiry? Or do they tell you they are ‘currently’ out of stock BUT will be getting more stock in on…? Do they physically go and check for your size or do they just ask one of their colleagues “Do we have any more of these in size 8 do you think?”

      Contrast this experience with the following: arrive home from work, evening chores, walk dog, go for a run. Cook something delicious. Settle down with a hot meal and a glass of wine. Put on ugg boots. Turn on computer. Browse. Music may be playing - but it’s not indecipherable insipid muzak or eardrum-rupturing techno. This is your playlist. You aren’t being jostled by random strangers. You’re sitting down in comfort. Maybe nursing a hot cup of tea or coffee, one you didn’t pay $5 to some sulky emo to boil the living crap out of before handing it over to you.

      Look as long as you want. Compare prices. Read up on the news while you’re shopping. Phone a friend - they can check it out with you from their place! Wait. Don’t wait. Buy it now. Free shipping and you don’t even have to carry it to your car.

      Sorry Gerry et al: you seriously don’t get it. The prices are far from the only reason shopping with you sucks. Having had a woman in David Jones shout at me across a hall “Dahl, we don’t serve at that counter, you’ll have to go down to the other end.” I started to wonder: why are you shouting at me, why are you calling me dahl and why oh why aren’t DJs senior executives getting down to the freakin’ shop floor and taking a cold hard look at what they ‘really’ offer their clients, as opposed to the marketing-guff they think they offer their clients???

      Reply

    • Lorraine says:

      05:20pm | 08/08/11

      Couldn’t have put it better myself. I am tired of going into my local Emporium (hint) and being unable to find a single shop assistant. The one time I did find one she was dusting because her supervisor was coming from town….. at least I was next in line after the dusting!

      Reply

    • ben says:

      05:33pm | 08/08/11

      Here is a thought, why don;t the retailers match the USA prices but add 15% and then it will not be worth shopping online….

      Reply

    • Dodge says:

      05:51pm | 08/08/11

      Bitten effectively ended the comments section of this article.

      That is spot on and probably unmatchable for retailers.

      Reply

    • scotty says:

      06:25pm | 08/08/11

      The bottom line is, while wages, rents and good old aussie taxes contribute, the bottom line is the cash goes to distributors.

      I bought a camera lens 3 months ago.  Got it from overseas in the end because the retail price in the US after shipping was $200 less than a major camera chain can buy it wholesale, and the US site could supply it to me in 2 days by courier, the distributor would take 3-6 weeks.

      What rational person would buy local when the OS options are literally half the price and are used to providing a higher level of service than we put up with in Australia?

      Reply

    • Illa Wong says:

      06:32pm | 08/08/11

      In the 1970s, author Alvin Toffler believed that people would do everything from home, the electronic cottage, and that shopping malls would become ghost towns which would be empty monuments to capitalism or ghost town palaces of capitalism.
      Alvin Toffler , The “Third Wave” 1976 , said everyone would shop, work , school, and amuse themselves only at home.
      One day in the future, he could be right!

      Reply

    • Illa Wong says:

      06:32pm | 08/08/11

      In the 1970s, author Alvin Toffler believed that people would do everything from home, the electronic cottage, and that shopping malls would become ghost towns which would be empty monuments to capitalism or ghost town palaces of capitalism.
      Alvin Toffler , The “Third Wave” 1976 , said everyone would shop, work , school, and amuse themselves only at home.
      One day in the future, he could be right!

      Reply

    • Just Sayin' says:

      06:54pm | 08/08/11

      He must be right.  Someone else said exactly the same thing a few seconds ago!

    • stephen says:

      07:57pm | 08/08/11

      This is why physical activity at school as sport and exercize at home as fitness is imperative : reality TV may be the only reality in the future any of us will ever get, (and at least moving around may may raise our blood for another revolution).

    • bananabender says:

      09:23pm | 08/08/11

      In ‘Future Shock’. (1970) Toffler also said we would be wearing disposable paper clothes by 2000.
      No one can predict the future.

    • Big Al says:

      06:54pm | 08/08/11

      I have just came back from overseas, a week and a half in New Jersey and five and a half in France (Bordeaux, Paris Brittany, mostly western France. Staying at my relatives. Great!

      First I’ll start with France. I was totally amazed at the cost of goods in France. I bought a Cannon Digital Camera for 55 Euros! From a store called Auchan. A 700ml bottle of JD was 18 Euros. Another supermarket similar to Aldi called Lidl had 500ml bottle and tinnies of beer for 39 centimes (less than 50c AUD). Eating out was cheap, a plat and dessert or salad started at 9 Euros, most 3-4 course meals with a cafe a’lait were between 18-24 Euros. Frozen pizzas were 2.40 to 3.50 Euros ($3-5 AUD). 2lt bottle of coke 1.42Euros, 500ml bottles of coke from servos and corner shops where 1.80 to 2.00 Euros each and on and on, a baguet with ham, cheese and tomato where 3.5Euros.

      Wages and conditions are not cheap in France. France has a higher tax rate than we do, so who is ripping us off when we shop.

      New Jersey, my mother buys AUSTRALIAN BEEF, scotch fillet for $5.95lb!!, thats less than $12.50AUD a kg!! I know because I was with here when she bought it. A dozen cans of real coke $2.99! All this less than 3 months ago!

      Reply

    • bilby says:

      07:40pm | 08/08/11

      I went into JB HiFi a couple of weeeks ago, paid in full for a PVR, got a receipt and had to wait two weeks for it.  After it arrived at the store I went straight in from work (without receipt) and was told I had to have the receipt.  I said my payment was on their system (offered them my driver’s licence), they said they wanted the receipt.  Asked them to print out another one…no, they wouldn’t do it.  I had to drive back home, get the receipt, drive back to JB HiFi to pick up what I’d paid for.  Unbelievable.  Last time I shop there, no wonder people are going online.

      Reply

    • Robert S McCormick says:

      08:39pm | 08/08/11

      All of Australia’s retailers have only themselves to blame for the mess they find themselves in but which they either too stupid or too arrogant to acknowledge.
      For years you retailers have been buying your stock from low-wage countries such as China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, assorted African nations - in fact anywhere wher you can pay as little as possible for them. You bring them into Australia & then have the gall to charge us, the consumers, at prices which you have based on what those goods would have cost if they had been manufactured in Australia, by Australians on Australian Wages. I well remember when it was revealed that Men’s Shirts with National Brand labels were being sourced from China at a landed cost of $1.50 each. You, ladies & gents, were charging us, at the time, $42.00 per shirt. I will never forget buying 2 Whitmont Shirts for which I was charged $42 each. When I went to wash them I found inside one of them, just under the collar, a tag sewn into the shirt stating “Made in China”. I checked the other & there was the remains of the same tag which had been carefully cut off. Not a bad mark-up, ladies & gents, Cost $1.50. Sold for $42.00! A mark-up of almost 2750%. That was almost 30 years ago & you have been doing the same ever since.
      Yes, we buy on the Internet. Why shouldn’t we? You are all & without exception guilty of profit gouging on an almost criminal level. Many would say that there was no ‘almost ’ about it!
      When you start to behave honestly then we may return to your over-priced, rip-off shops.
      Today it is well-nigh impossible to buy any products whatsoever which are Made in Australia. This is all down to the retailers no matter which area of retail the are in.. It is they who have destroyed millions of jobs in Australia.
      It is the big retailers such as Harvey Norman, Myer, David Jones, Harris Scarfe, Coles & Woolworths etc. who are now calling for all restrictions on Trading Hours to be eliminated. The Productivity Commission where retailing is involved is nothing more than their puppet.
      Increased trading hours will not add a single extra sale.
      It is well-nigh impossible to get any Service whatsoever in any Department Store or the larger Supermarkets run by Woolworths & Coles. With even more shopping hours what Service there is will totally disappear. The staff are untrained, lack any knowledge about the products they sell & when one is lucky enough to find a staff member they are surly to the point of downright rudeness, thier whole demeanour is that they would rather be almost anywhere else than where they are. No matter how polite & friendly a customer tries to be the staff in these places simply treat you as nothing more than a bloody nuisance.
      Thanks, Messrs Myer, David Jones, Harris Scarfe, Harvey Norman et al. but No Thanks. We may not get a friendly one-on-one, face-to-face encounter with a real person on the Internet but at least we do get a Thank You, Prompt Service & fast delivery. Nor must we, & in particular you, forget that we get our goods at prices well below what you charge us.

      Reply

    • Jason says:

      11:31pm | 08/08/11

      I disagree completely, it is the consumer who is going to suffer in the long run. For some reason’s Australian Consumers think that every single item has 2000% markup, this is simply not true at all. I worked in retail not so many years ago as a manager at one of these electrical retailers which you all seem to hate so much. The entire shop would average 6-7% GROSS profit a year, not including the expense of actually owning and running the shop. In over 5 years I have never seen a net profit more than 3% for a retailer. These are actual figures, not the la la land figures that people seem to quote who have no idea about the industry.
      Yes it is a troubled industry, and this is why I have moved away from retail. My personal favorite is those who complain about service, well you pay peanuts you get monkeys.. Lots of these employees are reliant on a gross profit commission because the award is pretty pathetic, so when they are only making $5 out of that $2k plasma purchase, expect $5 worth of service. I would like to see anyone of you who moan about the service to go above and beyond, every day of the week for nothing more than $17 an hour. You cannot even compare online service, where you get virtually no assistance what so ever, you simply read the information and make a decision.
      Australia is an isolated country, like it or not, we are never going to be competitive with overseas markets. I recently was looking to purchase a 65” LED panel from Samsung, now Samsung will not supply this product to Australia because the market size simply does not make it a viable product. Would I dare try buy this product from an overseas retailer.. NO chance, you legally have no protection if something goes wrong, and after your return period (which is at your cost, try the shipping cost of a 55kg rather large box airmail so that it is returned within the return period for less than what the panel is worth).
      What will happen, I agree that there will be a decline in the middle class shopping centers, there will always be premium retailers as not everyone is price sensitive. I personally found Bondi Junction to be a fantastic shopping center, you do pay a little extra, but the service is fantastic and I dont really enjoy waiting for delivery.
      Low end retailers will eventually disappear, constant price cutting competition is not sustainable in any industry, look at the airlines. Something has to give.

      Reply

    • marley says:

      08:50am | 09/08/11

      I agree with some of your points, but not the one about service levels here in Australia.  Minimum wage here is twice what it is in Canada or the US, but service levels there are much better.  Yes, Canadian workers are prepared to provide service, and for a lot less than $17 an hour.  Either Canadian and American monkeys are smarter, or they’re more motivated, or their bosses are smarter.  Either way, the poor service levels here do not relate to poor pay but to poor attitude and training.

    • Robert S McCormick says:

      10:50am | 09/08/11

      Jason, I had my own retail business for almost 10 years. It was successful & we had to work very hard to make a decent living. When I closed that business one newspaper wrote….“Today a bit of sunshine left town…”
      I agree not every business makes a 2000+% mark-up what I gave was an example of what did actually happen. The Supermarket chains tell us they have a margin of about 2% yet they still manage to make profits in the hundreds of millions - if not a billion or so.
      As for Service, Marley got it dead right. Another problem is that you have to wander around the entire floor of most Department & other large stores just to find a staff member to actually take your money & wrap your purchases & then when you do find such a rare person you have to join a queue! Then you are just as likely to get a staff changeover & have to wait whilst he/she logs off & the new staff member logs on!

      Reply
 
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