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Why good retailers will survive the internet

Stephen Cartwright

by Stephen Cartwright

06 Jan 05:50am

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Filed under: Business, Harvey Norman, Internet, Online Shopping, Retail

143 comments

Change and innovation are always feared, and therefore always resisted. 

Bianca Ghosn fits a customer with designer shoes at Cosmopolitan Shoes. Picture: Jane Dempster
When the first ATMs were introduced, the banking unions fought against them because they feared it would mean the end of tellers (who can forget the lines we used to endure at banks in the bad old days). Instead, we saw the rise of electronic banking with the banks now involved in almost every transaction.  When the video player was first introduced, film industry experts predicted the end of cinemas, but today we are seeing a resurgence in cinema attendance numbers because the industry was forced to become more innovative, and now delivers a significantly enhanced customer experience via new developments such as 3D.

In recent weeks, some of Australia’s larger retailers have vigorously argued that the ability of Australians to buy online will destroy retailing in Australia, with thousands of jobs going off-shore, and that we need to tax the internet to “create a level playing field”.  This is despite the fact that less than 3 per cent of all retail sales in Australia are transacted online!

I believe that the larger retailers are looking at this the wrong way around.  Retailers should be asking why people buy online.  Yes, price is a factor, but I believe that many Australian retailers have dropped the ball when it comes to customer service. 

How often have you visited a showroom to be told: “Yes, you can have your new lounge, but it will take a month to deliver”.  Or better still, after you fork out a four figure sum for the latest and greatest TV, you finally get it home and spend a day wondering how it works and how it connects to the DVD player, the Wii and the home broadband. 

A large number of the NSW Business Chamber’s members are small businesses, and some of these are small retailers. These small retailers have never been able to compete with the big guys on price.  These smaller retailers have had to create an offering to customers that is personalised, tailored and that seeks to anticipate and meet the specific needs of their customers. 

In an artificial sense, the clever online retailers are already doing this.  When I visit Amazon, the front page is full of images of goods that Amazon anticipates I will like, given my purchasing history and my demographics.  It doesn’t always get it right, but most times it’s a good match.

I believe that Australian retailers are actually quite poor when it comes to customer service. I’m convinced that “Betty from Bankworld” moonlights as a staff trainer for many of our retailers.  Our service culture is especially poor when compared to countries like the US.  We do not have a culture of anticipating customer needs and of going the extra mile to make the shopping experience as easy as possible. 

In some of our big stores it is quicker to read ‘War and Peace’ than it is to find a staff member available to help, or better yet keen to help.

For a company like Harvey Norman, who for many years has been at the forefront of innovation in retailing, it might mean having delivery people who can stay an extra fifteen minutes and help you set up your new TV or new washing machine. The answer isn’t a new tax (and especially not a tax that would cost more to administer than what it would raise in revenue).  The answer is for Australian retailers like Harvey Norman to innovate like they did in the 80s and 90s when they weren’t the big guys in town.

The retailers might also want to study what the grocery stores like Woolworths have been doing in terms of understanding their customers.  The Woolworths loyalty card is able to track the buying habits of every purchaser, and it’s only a matter of time before this information is used to direct targeted emails with specials totally tailored to that individual customer.

The answer to the internet is not more taxes.  The answer to the internet is innovation, and for retailers to do what they do even better.

The fact is that while many goods on the internet are less expensive, there are delays in receiving the goods, the sale is not governed by Australian consumer laws and if a refund is needed, it costs a great deal to return the goods to where they came from.  On the other hand, you can try on a shirt or a suit in a department store, you can see the colour of a good or feel its texture, and you can return it if it doesn’t fit, all of which is very difficult to do over the internet.

Yes, the internet does provide a new challenge for Australian retailers, but price is only one variable when you shop.  Other variables like ease of parking, friendly, helpful and well-trained customer service staff and the provision of ongoing “after sales” support are just as critical. 

I welcome the challenge of online retailing, because I believe it will drive a revolution in the service culture of Australian retailers, and this can only be a good thing for Australian consumers.

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143 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Bri says:

      07:51am | 06/01/11

      Gerry Harvey described consumers buying goods off the internet as a “fad” a few years ago. David Jones also thought the same thing even as early as last year. If it’s such a “fad”, what are they afraid of?

      Interesting too how Gerry Harvey has the nerve to call consumers who buy goods from the internet “un-australian”, when he himself has been lobbying the federal government for years to bring in new laws so he can bring in foreign workers and pay them less than he would have to pay australian workers.

      Who is un-australian, Gerry?

      Reply

    • Redeker Plan says:

      11:36am | 06/01/11

      This is not a swing at you Bri, but at Gerry and the like.

      I for one am sick of the term “Un-Australian” being bandied about to describe anything the clown-shoed f*$k-tard in question doesn’t agree with.  Since the Howard-era it seems to crop up all the time, and always (to me at least) seems to be applied in a context that is Orwellian in nature.

      I call for a new, completely local version of the “Godwin’s Law” rule, to be applied for every instance of the word “un-Australian” being uttered, especially by luminaries like Gerry Harvey, Rupert Murdoch, ACA and Today Tonight, etc.  We could call it, I don’t know, the John Winston Parallel. Punishment would be a broadly Australian reply such as “Get ya hand off it ya drongo”, or something similar, followed by an immediate cessation of discussion and reply.
      Who’s with me?

      ***For those of you blissfully ignorant - Godwin’s Law states that the first person in an arguement or debate who runs out of salient points and resorts to comparisons of the opposing party to Hitler/Nazism, etc (insert your favoured -ism) loses the arguement - end of discussion.

    • hot tub political machine says:

      11:42am | 06/01/11

      Compeltely agree Redeker,

      Use of the term Un-Australian is the last refuge of someone who has utterly lost an argument.

    • St. Michael says:

      12:47pm | 06/01/11

      +1 vote on a local Godwin’s Law.  Although I vote we call it a Redeker’s Rule from here on in rather than John Winston Parallel, because it rolls off the tongue better. smile

      Having said that, and breaking the Rule, I would have thought Australians shopping online is the furthrest thing from being unAustralian.  Consider the Kerrigans; they were buying stuff online and weren’t shy about telling people they were dreaming if they thought they were being overcharged.

      And if Gerry thinks online shoppers are somehow stealing from him, well, we had “thieves” here on the First Fleet transported for stealing a loaf of bread or a letter, and Ned Kelly’s still a folklore hero despite being a bankrobbing bandit.  We’re not unAustralian, Gerry, we’re being more Australian than you are!

    • Redeker Plan says:

      01:23pm | 06/01/11

      @St. Michael - *blush*. Well, I’m flattered… Thanks for the better name “Redeker’s Rule”.  I hadn’t thought of that - the illiteration does make it roll off the tongue rather well…

      Spread it around good Punch-folk.  The revolution starts here. In true Australian style, we’d put them up against the wall, but frankly; who could be ar#sed?

    • Damo says:

      01:31pm | 06/01/11

      You’re un-Australian Redeker…

    • HappyCynic says:

      02:00pm | 06/01/11

      Why not name the rule based on those who use it the most?

      The Tracey Grimshaw/Matthew White Law?

      Although, for simplicity’s sake, I’m also in agreement with Redeker’s Rule, simply coz it rolls off the tongue so smoothly smile

    • Mark says:

      10:19pm | 06/01/11

      The fact of the matter is that large Australian retailers have been lauding it up for a long time utterly complacent about what the internet has to offer. When I moved here in 2006 I couldn’t believe how few of the big names sold anything on the web. Most of them just had a site that showed you the latest catalogue that gets stuffed in your letterbox. In the UK/Europe virtually all retailers will sell on the web - a case of any sale is a good sale - as if they don’t you can be damn sure a competitor will. Perhaps the lack of competition has driven this complacency and now when they are staring over the precipice they shout loud for the Government’s help.
      I admit that it used to be the same in the UK with only smaller players on the web until Amazon started up locally which really shook up the big boys. It’s a shame they haven’t got a local operation here but as setting up in the UK gave them a foot in Europe I guess there’s a completely different economy of scale. The food retailers have been very slow with their offerings here but when there’s only really two of you I guess who cares?

    • acotrel says:

      04:33am | 07/01/11

      I always thought that being Australian was about giving others ‘a fair go’? Gerry obviously believes the rest of us only exist to boost his bank balance!

    • Andrew G says:

      07:51am | 06/01/11

      As you touched on above, the local retailers need to be the best in the areas where Internet shops are worst; (1) Customer Service and (2) Quick product delivery (or even available on the day).

      Another major cost for local retailers is the warehousing. Warehouse wages are high locally due to the Unions holding major retailers at ransom for so many years, but some companies have adapted by conducting a lot or their storage and sorting offshore (Asia), so when it arrives in Australia it’s as ready as possible to go to the store. Realistically only the physical store needs to be located locally. That would result in job losses in the logistics warehousing sector but could save the local retailers.

      Reply

    • facepalm says:

      12:24pm | 06/01/11

      I don’t know about you, but barring one poor online experience (courtesy of Mr Gadget), I have found internet shopping beats retail shopping on customer service hands down. But that’s to be expected - there will always be less reputable and less scrupulous businesses. It’s an unfortunate reality.

      As for delivery? Well, once again I have to side with online shops. Ask a regular retail store to deliver something to your door and you’ll be left waiting and waiting; then you’ll get pissed off and call them up and then you’ll wait some more. If an online store wants to be successful they have to deliver goods in a timely fashion (seeing as their business model more or less precludes physical contact with customers). If an online store isn’t quite up to the task….well, electronic word-of-mouth spreads incredibly quickly.

      Oh, and I don’t know about you, but I have usually found that online stores, even the big ones, have a far better idea of what their stock levels are. How many times have you walked in to a retail store and asked “Do you have any X in stock?” only to have a pimply-faced youth respond with “Dunno.” At least most online stores have the honesty to let customers know when they’ve run out of something.

    • acotrel says:

      04:29am | 07/01/11

      @Andrew G.
      ‘Another major cost for local retailers is the warehousing. Warehouse wages are high locally due to the Unions holding major retailers at ransom for so many years, but some companies have adapted by conducting a lot or their storage and sorting offshore (Asia), so when it arrives in Australia it’s as ready as possible to go to the store. Realistically only the physical store needs to be located locally. That would result in job losses in the logistics warehousing sector but could save the local retailers. ‘
      Another bit of ‘Union’ bashing which doesn’t take into account the mark -up levels or the fact that thousands of jobs have already been lost.  It hardly places any union in a position to ‘hold retailers to ransome’?  The fact of the matter is that the ‘free market’ has driven jobs offshore, and Australian workers still pay Australian prices for imports which have been purchased at third world prices by opportunistic morons like Gerry Harvey! When the tariffs were removed, he jumped right in and started exploiting the situation without any regard for maintaining our domestic manufacturing industry.  Might have been be really nice for you right wingers to sneak under the guard of the ‘Unions’, but the ‘free market’ was simply another example of the conservatives changing the rules to fit their 300 year old continuing agenda.  Now we have few engineering based industries, and the skills loss has been massive!

    • Shirley Morgan says:

      08:01am | 06/01/11

      I stood by the lonely cash register to make a purchase on 2nd floor, at Myer Ballarat a few months ago.  Two Myer employees (men) looked at me as they stood talking a few feet away but didn’t budge.  I sent a letter of disapproval to the store Manager and am still waiting for his response.  I haven’t spent a cent in Myer since.

      Reply

    • bella starkey says:

      08:29am | 06/01/11

      A woman at the bridal registry in a Sydney Myer so upset my mother I made the store manager ring Mum up and apologise. This wasn’t a bored teenager either, it was a late middle aged woman who was to “busy” trying to figure out how to use the cash register (because apparently they aren’t trained at all) to help my mum out.

      Thing is, she didn’t want to make a purchase, she just wanted to ask where something on the registry list was.

    • Gregg says:

      09:53am | 06/01/11

      Unfortunately, one of the men was the Store Manager and the other the Department Manager and they were discussing management frontline exposure, and in the midst of that conversation, you may not have detected it but
      SMr: ” Where are the register attendants?
      DMr: ” We had to cut back and instruct counter staff to also attend to customer help “
      SMr: ” Oh, then we could help out more by exposing ourselves “
      Dmr: ” Well yes, but not in the literal sense “
      SMr: ” So, I could help that lady right there now couldn’t I ? “
      DMr: ” Well maybe but it could depend on what she wants?
      SMr: ” Well what if she just wants to pay, could you show me how to use the Cash register? “
      DMr: ” Sorry, but as management, the Union agreement does not allow that! “
      SMr: ” We’ll have to change that ! ” and what about you?
      DMr: ” Company rule re Cash security and a DM can only attend to a Cash Register with the signed in Attendant in attendance “
      SMR: Shit!, No wonder the missus is buying so much stuff online!

    • commonsensegirlonline says:

      10:09am | 06/01/11

      I too have been so fed up with the lack of service as you have described above, not only in Myer but other major retailers, I also have fired off letters of complaint, never ever having received a response. This clearly shows these retailers have absolutely no respect for their customers.  Is it any wonder so many of us are choosing to shop online, where we have “instant” service and do not have to deal with an assistant who clearly does not know a thing about the product he/she is trying to sell.  In fact, there have been occasions when we have researched an article online and shopped locally for it, having to tell the shop assistant that what he was saying was a load of baloney and telling him the facts of the product.  Clearly not only do these shop assistants need lessons via staff training on actually serving the customer but also training on the products they are supposed to be selling!  It is therefore obvious that price is not the only criteria for shopping online and until the retailers learn this lesson, the move away from shopping in their stores is going to get worse.

    • Leo says:

      11:12am | 06/01/11

      I have had the same experience at one of the other supporters of the proposed big-new-tax on internet goods. The reply I got was that all the sales staff are highly trained in customer service. Not a sorry for your experiences, how could we do it better. Just a brush off. No wonder they don’t get it.

    • Ducks says:

      12:13pm | 06/01/11

      This is my (repeated) experience buying cosmetics at Myer.
      - Go directly to the section I need to buy the product from.
      - Wait for attendant.
      - Smile politely at attendants chatting to each other
      - Wait as attendant serves another customer (sometimes rightfully as they were waiting there first, but then again often they weren’t)
      - Continue to wait, wondering where the other attendant who was chatting to the first has gone.
      - Sometimes I get served by an attendant from another counter, sometimes I dont.
      -Eventually get served by the attendant at the counter I had (no longer patiently) been waiting at.
      My average wait time at the cosmetics section in Myer is 10 minutes. This has blown out to 20 before I walked to David Jones and got served there instantly (although they are not always better). Considering I can get the same item online for about $20 cheaper including postage and withing 5 days, I’m not sure why I bothered. Customer loyalty I guess.

      Now that they have demonstrated their greed with this latest campaign I intend to buy all of my products online regardless of whether it is always cheaper. Whatever customer loyalty I had has now been destroyed.

    • Ducks says:

      12:18pm | 06/01/11

      Also interesting is the snobbery that exists within Myers and David Jones.
      I always get served about twice as fast when I walk into these stores wearing a suit than when I do in casual clothes. (This is not counting weekends which understandably are often busier).
      If they are not convinced they are going to get a sale out of you, good luck getting any customer service.

    • Eskimo says:

      03:19pm | 06/01/11

      The young Mr Grace would not be happy.

    • hermes says:

      10:27am | 07/01/11

      while i generally agree with you ducks; i have to say, my very buff gymnast son got served instantly and rather over attentively (lol) by an attendant in myer menswear, when he walked in sans shirt and shoes…

    • Vanessa says:

      08:05am | 06/01/11

      Very well put. The solution is not to whinge and cry poor, but to innovate. And you’re right, price is only one factor why shoppers are deserting big retailers in droves. They need to take a long, hard look at themselves. Adapt or die, Gerry.

      Reply

    • Matt says:

      11:44am | 06/01/11

      What we are setting ourselves up for here is our retailers having to pay a 10% tax whilst off shore companies do not. Where do you thinking this will lead to? This isn’t just about price, its about whats fair. A broad base goods tax should be payable for ALL goods, whether purchased from an Australian company online, or an overseas company online.

    • Paul says:

      12:57pm | 06/01/11

      Matt.  Australian online retailers do have to pay GST.  It is overseas purchases below $1000 that do not attract GST.  It used to be collected on items above $250 but was costing the government more than it was making.  Hence they changed it to $1000.

    • Richo says:

      06:10pm | 06/01/11

      Matt, perhaps if the retail industry was more competitive on a global level there wouldnt be such an issue as we have now. It needs a huge shake-up and I believe this issue will provide that. Tell me, if a 10% tax was applied to overseas purchases under $1000 and the customers still bought from overseas, what then? ask the govt for a 20% tax or perhaps a 50% tax or maybe even ban personal overseas shopping altogether? Even when i’ve paid 10% GST on a camcorder from the US, the price was still way below the price locally. Retailers should be examining ways to get costs down to provide better deals, not worrying about this issue. I would happily go back to buying local if your prices are only 10 or 20% dearer. I’m not going to support 50-100% differences.

    • Lisa H. says:

      01:22am | 07/01/11

      Australians seem to want their cake and eat it.
      As a group we LOVE high wages, employer-paid superannuation, an ever-increasing list of work entitlements, all kinds of welfare benefits, relatively high taxes to pay for a big-spending and highly interventionist government sector…
      Add in the other cost pressures such as Australia’s high rents, interest rates, relatively spread out and small markets…. not to mention government internvention and red tape…
      How can we have all our rules, regs, the bureaucrats to run the joint AND cheap retail on top?
      Why is it easier to simply bash retailers as ‘greedy’  than it is to examine all the structural reasons why Australian retail is so expensive?

    • James says:

      09:09pm | 08/01/11

      @ Lisa H. I would be a bit more inclined to side with the major retailers had the major retailers involved not brought on the demise of Australian manufacturing and smaller retailers.

      Harvey Norman was one of the first retailers to give up stocking locally produced goods in favour of cheaper off shore ones back in the 1980s. Myer and David Jones are the same, it is almost impossible to find locally made garments in their stores.

      Harvey Norman has also gone out of his way to detroy smaller retailers. How many smaller photographic shops could compete when Harvey Norman started selling photographic prints below cost? Once those smaller shops lost their bread and butter of photo prints and closed Harvey Norman started increasing the margins on their cameras as there was no more competition. How do I know? I was one of the store employees at the time. I quit in disgust and joined Dick Smiths.

    • Oogy says:

      08:17am | 06/01/11

      Hi, I’m an Australian retailer. I choose to complain about online shopping (which is out of my control), as opposed to offering competitive services and prices in order to give customers a reason to shop with me.

      All I want is more tax breaks and a ban on Internet shopping, and then I’ll be able to remain operational without trying to better myself.

      Thankyou for your understanding.

      P.S.  Anybody who disagrees with me is “unAustralian”.

      Reply

    • Leethal says:

      10:10am | 06/01/11

      You forgot to add the disclaimer *Sarcasm… Oh wait, sorry, Gerry.

    • acotrel says:

      06:48pm | 06/01/11

      How about we simply bring back the system of charging tariffs on imported goods - would you be happy then?  Or would you want them only charged on goods bought by private individuals ‘on line’? Those with royal patronage or religous associations, to be exempt?

    • St. Michael says:

      07:18pm | 06/01/11

      @acotrel: Royal patronage? Well, I’ve been a patron of the Royal down the street, lovely spot for a drink it is, but for some reason the only elextrical goods I seem to come across are ones offered out of the back of a truck by shifty types who buy VBs…

    • stephen says:

      08:21am | 06/01/11

      all thay wont is there sales tally not wot the custermer wont any more

      Reply

    • jesus says:

      10:50am | 06/01/11

      skool

    • Rev says:

      11:36am | 06/01/11

      I’m surprised your name isn’t ‘steevan’.

    • Anaerobic says:

      08:21am | 06/01/11

      There is one facet of this argument that the big retailers hope the average Australian grasp too late; how much it will cost to collect the tax and duty and who is going to pay for it.

      For consignments other than through Australia Post (DHL, Fedex etc.) the carriers have their own already functioning customs clearance departments who bond the goods, determine customs classifications, bill the consignee and remit those funds to government before finally delivering the goods. Rightly, they expect to be be rewarded for this service.

      From my experience, on an oversees purchase of around $1000, the cost of this with a five percent duty rate can easily run into $150 dollars. Add gst and we have another $100. Instantly, the on-costs for this shipment have added $250 or 25% to the price.

      Of course, in the case of the retailers, the customs clearance burden is in percentage terms much smaller. The clearance cost for one toaster is the same as 1000 toasters, so they win. The retailers are showing you half the picture and hoping you won’t get the other half until it’s too late.

      It might be a cynical view, but I believe there is already a level playing field. I checked with a secret government source and he (or she) told me in the strictest confidence that any of these retailers can order goods to the value of $1000 from overseas without paying gst or duty - just like us regular Australians who Gerry Harvey contend “just don’t get it.”

      Gerry’s problem is that we do get it. We get it often, we get it with exemplary customer service and we get it at the right price. We just aren’t getting it from him. Someone must be responsible.

      Reply

    • Kevin D says:

      09:07pm | 06/01/11

      5% duty on $1000 is only $50, not $150. It is $25 on $500, and $5 on a $100 purchase price (international freight cost is not included for purposes of duty or GST calculation as is the worldwide convention).
      Furthermore, duty is basically levied on products that has a competing Australian manufacturer. But as the big retailers have all but destroyed Australia’s manufacturing industry for retail products, most items are duty free.

    • bananabender says:

      06:16pm | 07/01/11

      “From my experience, on an oversees purchase of around $1000, the cost of this with a five percent duty rate can easily run into $150 dollars. Add gst and we have another $100. Instantly, the on-costs for this shipment have added $250 or 25% to the price.’

      I have made dozens of overseas purchases.

      Duty is not charged on most items under $1000 except commercial quantities (eg a shipment of 250 $2 t-shirts)

      DHL and other couriers have a $1500 GST-free limit. 

      Customs does not charge a processing fee.

      In the vast majority of cases you will be paying nothing extra on a $1000 purchase.

    • Jim says:

      09:02pm | 11/01/11

      @Kevin D and Bananabender - the stuff that I order from overseas is typically less than $1000 and typically comes via Royal Mail or US Postal Service and thus is delivered via Australia Post. However, I have ordered some things which have been more than $1k and which have been delivered by FedEx and - at least in my experience - in addition to any duty or GST that they calculate as being payable, they also add on an additional fee for the time that they spent in collecting duty/GST from you on behalf of the government.

      Therefore, as Anaerobic states, the total cost ends up being quite a bit more than just the GST or the GST/duty on an item.

      Furthermore, don’t forget that GST is not simply levied on the price of the article - it’s levied on the price + shipping + any other tariffs or duties (if payable). Therefore, an item which costs $1000 +$50 postage can easily cost quite a lot more than that once GST and processing costs are added in.

    • George says:

      08:27am | 06/01/11

      For “Hardly Normal” and greedy business people like Gerry Harvey and Solomon Lew improved customer service is an additional cost to their bottom line which only adds to the retail cost of an item.

      We should be careful what we wish for, commodity prices are already high enough as it is given the current dismal service (or lack of it) that shoppers get from large retail outlets. 

      If we want them to improve then we should expect prices to go up, any excuse will do!

      Reply

    • Who will feed my 350 horses says:

      08:33am | 06/01/11

      Mr Norman is worried his several hundred racehorses will not be fed properly if he is not allowed to rip off consumers and support the riches he is so rightly entitled to ,a tried and true Gerry Harvey australianism
      His CEO is obviously steering the Ship onto the rocks and he should have never taken his hand off the tiller
      Have not ,will not shop in one of his stores since Harvey Norman left people high and dry years ago after Bankruptcy .Looks like he remembers that and is desperate to avoid the same embarrassment
      He is simply a snake oil salesman and his aged methods have withered while the world has moved on

      Reply

    • Kay says:

      12:11pm | 06/01/11

      Gerry’s wife Katie Page is in charge now.

    • tickets please says:

      04:21pm | 06/01/11

      Nuff said,another token

    • Kate says:

      08:39am | 06/01/11

      Retailers also need to provide a better range of sizes and styles for consumers at more competitive prices. I’ve been turned off Myer after trying to find some shoes in my size (women’s size 11) over Christmas - tried three Myer stores, only one had one pair of shoes in my size which were hideous. Not to mention the snotty, ‘ew’ facial expression on the sales assistant when I asked for that size.

      On eBay I can find size eleven shoes for less than I’d pay in stores. I’ve only ever had to return one item purchased online that didn’t fit the description I was given by the seller.

      Reply

    • Boovy Muscrat says:

      11:24am | 06/01/11

      In all honesty, you sound lucky to find most shoes a good fit.
      Things like clothing will not disappear from retail stores, since they are quite individual, (apart from generic sizes used for some items, or clothes that are adjustable in some way.).

      However, in other areas, a warehouse in a second world country with poorly paid staff, little regulation and a web server is a lot cheaper to run than a large retail store in Aus. Not to mention the number of counterfeit items that will probably be imported.

      Even though people say they want service, they are often not prepared to pay for it. The example given about the electronic equipment setup would see most people say no when told it will cost them $X to set up and demonstrate the unit in there home. Include it in the price of the equipment, and they will complain they are getting ripped off. “Service” sounds great, but it has a cost. Warehouse retailers in Aus is part of the reason service has gone down the tubes. Where is the incentive to help a client when all they will do is pick your brain for the best info, then buy it elsewhere cheaper.

      I have always been under the impression that the only reason HN survives is the interest free periods on financing it offers - certainly not price or service.

    • JJJ says:

      01:55pm | 06/01/11

      I am with you Kate. I am a size 42 and most Australian stores only stock up to 41. I shop a LOT at http://www.barefoottess.com/
      The prices are great, delivery is free for purchases over $250, you don’t need to suffer the embarrassment of some snooty sales assistant gawfing at your “enormous” feet, most shoes have a sizing guide and other customer comments to ensure a perfect fit, and they arrive within two weeks.
      Online shopping rocks.
      On another issue - I NEVER shop at H.N. RIP OFF.

    • Jane says:

      09:26am | 07/01/11

      Boovy Muscrat, slight problem with your arguement. Most of the retailers we are buying from overseas are in first world countries with their warehouse in their country. They save money because you need less staff to pick and pack goods than you do tooperate a store front AND have your pickers who pack the pallets that go into the trucks to be delivered to stores where the packers pack them onto the shelves, etc

    • Nafe says:

      08:40am | 06/01/11

      Gerry Harvey is shooting himself in the foot on this campaign. I have now resigned myself to no longer purchase anything from Harvey Norman, Domayne, Joyce Mayne or any of the other “Coalition” stores due to this campaign. 

      They are so hypocritical. If they were prepared to pay more for Australian made products, they would have the right to say what they are saying. These same companies single handedly closed down the Australian Manufacturing sector by importing from oerseas.

      I personally pay a premium for Australian Made, but there isn’t much of that left.

      And the nail in Harvey’s coffin is calling us UnAustralian for buying overseas. Looks Like the Coalition are the most UnAustralian as they have been doing it for decades.

      Sorry Mr Harvey, your delivery costs are extravigant, to get a TV delivered 20km or less costs more then getting that same TV delivered from Kogan, or other online stores, you really need to look at your margins. Considering freight costs can’t be shipped off shore.

      Reply

    • Griffindor says:

      08:42am | 06/01/11

      Two years ago i purchased a Canon DSLR (over $2000) from Harvey Norman, and was conned into getting the Harvey Norman extended warranty (some $300 extra) under the premise that should i have ANY problems a new for old replacement would be available - i should have read the fine print - when this camera had issues a few months later i returned it the store and was told the extended warranty didnt cover that and it’d be sent to Canon but they weren’t sure when, quote “it’d be quicker for you to drive the 2hrs to the Canon service centre in North Sydney to drop it off, and return when its fixed”

      I have not set foot inside a Harvey Norman or Domayne since, two places that were my regulars for all home/office needs.

      I have since upgraded to a High end DSLR with associated lenses via online stores here and abroad saving thousands.

      I’ve spent probably $15,000k furnishing my new home and office since the aforementioned camera warranty issue - Fridge, TVs, PS3, multiple Apple desktops - predominantly through David Jones and Officeworks (two who offer great service, and match local online prices). Though im quite disappointed to see David Jones have joined Gerry on this latest crusade.

      Reply

    • Kika says:

      10:51am | 06/01/11

      Absolutely! We were about to sign the dotted line on a sale at Harvey Norman when the sales guy basically threw in a 3 year ‘extended’ warranty without asking us first.
      “Hang on… warranty?”
      “Yeah you will need a warranty… it’s only an extra $200.00”
      “What’s the manufacturers warranty?”
      “Only…. 12 months”
      “We have insurance and covers for accidental breakage and portables. We should be fine”
      “No! Insurance won’t cover it. Trust me. I had the same issue”
      “Ok. See you later!”
      We gathered that if there’s a fault in the camera then we would notice it before the 12 months was up!

      We both work in insurance and finance so we didn’t like how this sales assistant gave us advice on insurance. Plus this guy never asked us whether we wanted the extended warranty. He just decided for himself that we needed it and would sign the dotted line when shoved in our face.

      We took our business to JB Hifi who didn’t BS us into anything, no sales gimmicks nothing only fact, help, advice and a good (much better) price.

      The extended warranty is rubbish. It’s not worth much. Most of them time it’s just more commission revenue for them and much less real value to you because the manufacturers warranty always applies first before theirs ever do. And by then if there’s a fault or it’s defective it’s unlikely to pop up after the manufacturers own warranty period has expired.

    • AC says:

      03:08pm | 06/01/11

      I had a similar camera issue with Dick Smith - they did agree to get it fixed, but despite the warranty it was going to take a minimum of six weeks to get the camera back. The staff member even admitted that it probably wasn’t even going to be sent off for another two weeks since they “wait until they have a big batch to make it cheaper”. In the end I decided I’d live with the problem. With that kind of service, I may as well buy online.

    • Bree says:

      09:24pm | 06/01/11

      @Kika;
      Don’t the sales assistants get a cut of the ‘extended warranty’ BS added as a bonus?

    • James says:

      08:43am | 06/01/11

      Let’s be honest I think everyone is being a bit dramatic here, whilst online shopping is becoming more popular it is no where close enough to be blamed for the recent retail slump during Christmas. I think most of this is all usual Gerry Harvey fanfare in reaction to his share price declining since October.
      If Harvey Norman didn’t find it necessary to gouge every since customer for all they have got, as they have been doing for years then this wouldn’t be happening.

      Online shopping is a hobby, not a new way of life (for most) and if department stores & retailers in the United States and others all around the world can survive it, so can ours.

      Reply

    • Andrew G says:

      09:37am | 06/01/11

      You make a good point. The biggest retailers in the US are still bricks and mortar, albeit some with an online store too. Walmart etc… It’s just a question of which Australian Retailers will survive. Harvey Norman has an unflexible structure and franchise model making it hard to adapt to the future, that’s why they are making the most noise. I think retailers such as Kmart are better placed for the future.

    • Matt says:

      08:44am | 06/01/11

      Exactly why Blockbuster went into receivership in the US, they had 10 years to innovate and come to terms with the internet. They didn’t, so others like Netflix came in and took that market. Same thing will happen this decade with TV stations as online offerings offer more shows at any time on demand. EVERY business needs to be looking at how the internet will impact them and innovate to stay relevant.

      Reply

    • Gerty says:

      12:55pm | 06/01/11

      Great point. Not many businesses look forward. How about Gerry Harvey not even knowing how to use a computer! What a fool. You cant turn back time. More companies should embrace change.

      If Australian companies think they will survive if they don’t have strong online presence they will die out like the Blockbusters of the world.

    • acker says:

      08:49am | 06/01/11

      I occasionally buy clothes from America, they fit properly as according to their marked size and they don’t quickly fall to bits..unfortunately the clothes purchased from many Australian retailers fail those simple tasks. Any GST savings is paid in xtra freight ..it is not the main reason

      Reply

    • Lisa H. says:

      01:39am | 07/01/11

      Yes, the high quality and relatively low price can be quite a shock, when the parcel of clothing finally arrives from the US and UK!
      In comparison with the very high prices, and very low quality, that we are accustomed to in Australia.

    • Jason says:

      08:51am | 06/01/11

      If retailers can’t negotiate good wholesale deals with the supplier, while the foreign online shops can, it’s the retailers who have to be able to negotiate better with the suppliers. If it means the retailers have to buy more in bulk, then so be it. Good service will ensure that some shops survive, however, it is the prices that are the main drawcard. Excuses and punishment through taxation will only cause more alienation towards retailers.

      Reply

    • DF says:

      08:59am | 06/01/11

      I’m a small electrical retailer. I can only deal with specific brands to sell their finished goods because I’m not part of a “buying group” i.e. a congolmeration of bigger retailers who join together to get a better deal from manufacturers. In many cases what I could buy a product for is the price that these giants sell the same product for.
      And in a lot of cases these giants get to buy stuff on consignment, They only pay for what they sell. I have to pay on a 30 day account, even if they product sits still for a couple of months.
      But I (and the people who work for me) have one thing these giants don’t have. Customer Service. I guess it’s because I’m personally invested in it. You buy an appliance from me and I’ll guarantee that when you leave my store you’ll know as much about that appliance as I do. Sure it takes my time but I know you’ll be back (in a positive way).
      The problem with (many of) the staff at these giants is that it’s just a job. No responsibility, no pride in it. And their employers let them get away with it. As long as the tills are ringing over (for their commission based sales) and the interest free deals are going through the employers/franchisors are laughing.

      Reply

    • James1 says:

      09:10am | 06/01/11

      Maybe you should buy online.  I hear you can get things for up to 50% less than the big retailers charge…

    • Jacob says:

      09:16am | 06/01/11

      This ^ i will happily buy from your shop. assuming i knew where it was raspberry

    • Andrew G says:

      09:40am | 06/01/11

      And people will continue to support local retailers like yourself, for the customer service reasons you mentioned. You appear to have more idea about retailing then Gerry Harvey!

    • St. Michael says:

      12:55pm | 06/01/11

      From an economic standpoint, you’re actually offering lower prices than online retailers, since exemplary customer service amounts to a price cut.  Therefore it is entirely right that you should stay in business and win out, since you are—notionally at least—offering the lowest price for the same commodity.  Well done, sir.

    • Frogs on the SunnyCoast says:

      01:27pm | 06/01/11

      @DF would love to know where you are because I need to purchase a new washing machine and outright refuse to buy from the a large chains who know less than me and only want to sell me what the will make the most on

    • Justin says:

      09:00am | 06/01/11

      Is it a coincidence the major retailers who want this have the poorest websites also?  There are plenty of good retailers who have good websites in Australia. Or how about JB Hifi, who do have competitive prices. They don’t spend the money on flashy looking stores, everytime I’m in one they are busy and selling things.

      Reply

    • Michael says:

      01:23pm | 06/01/11

      Harvey Norman said they will match prices, i went into one of the stores after a cannon camera (nothing huge or fancy, just a normal Ixus) because they were right above my work… well after askign if they can match a price i had found i was told yes so i showed them the DSE catalogue, which had the camera listed as $200 cheaper than their price and was told that they wouldnt match it because it was obviously an online only price.  When i pointed out it was being sold in a store they still wouldnt match the price as they would have made a loss… Gerry there is an issue you have, if you say you will match a price… MATCH IT ... its called service and it is something you can offer when your internet competitors cant

    • Jordie says:

      09:02am | 06/01/11

      These retailers have the audacity to call consumers unAustralian for buying overseas when they were the ones who abandoned Australian manufacturing the minute they saw cheaper products coming out of China. Innovation in retailing and competition will be the only way forward for them to the benefit of the consumer.

      Reply

    • retired says:

      12:45pm | 06/01/11

      If it’s un-Australian to buy overseas, then the big retailers are the most un-Ozzie of all.
      What TVs are on offer in their stores; Toshiba, Samsung, Sony.
      What computers are on offer; Toshiba, Sony, Acer.
      What are the microwaves on offer?
      What about the shoes? Or the jeans?
      Do they have any Australian suppliers?
      So, the retailers simply want you to buy from overseas via an (un-)Australian middleman.

    • Andrew M says:

      09:04am | 06/01/11

      Well done Gerry Harvey.  I am sure that the many people who were not too sure of the benefits of buying online, now are fully aware due to your little tanty.  You have just thrown the baby out with the bath water.  Your call for a tax will not work as the cost of implementation and administration alone would negate any perceived financial reward for the government, and the general publics backlash would ensure that any government that tries to push it will soon find themselves in opposition.

      I have never spent a cent in one of your stores Gerry, and after your latest little sook, I think you will find a lot more people will be avoiding your stores like the plague. 

      There is nothing like a ‘champion’ of free enterprise running to the government when things aren’t going to his liking.

      Reply

    • John L says:

      09:05am | 06/01/11

      The best part of the campaign being run by the greedy old-style retailers is that it has given exposure to many online sites I didn’t know existed. Keep it up whinging Gerry, I need to know a good website to buy a new clothes dryer from.

      Reply

    • James1 says:

      09:06am | 06/01/11

      The reason the retailers don’t want to improve service or hire additional staff is because those things would cost money and eat into their profits.  They want to be able to cope and compete with online shopping, but they want us, the consumers, to pay for it, rather than them, the retailers.

      Reply

    • Jane says:

      09:39am | 07/01/11

      But improving their online presence and shipping striaght from their warehouse would actually save them money…

    • Robert S McCormick says:

      09:26am | 06/01/11

      Over the years I have heard some nonsense uttered by many people & sometimes even myself! However the utterances by Corporate Affairs spokeswoman, Helen Karlis, for up-market retailer David Jones (with whom I have had an account for 45 years) with regard to people buying via the Internet must rank close to the top in stupidity & hypocrisy.
      On ABC-TV 7.30 Report last night, 5/1/11, she said: (roughly)
      “People should not be encouraged to send their money off-shore & thereby stimulate the economies of other countries”
      Really, Helen can’t have been serious, can she?
      She & the management of DJs, Myer, K-mart, Target, Big W & all the other big whinging, big retailers should come down from their ivory towers of corporate luxury and take a wander through ALL their departments.
      It would be fair to say that more than 98% of ALL the merchandise carried in David Jones etc., including high-end, internationally recognised fashion label"s, is Imported & mostly from China. For example: David Jones in Adelaide some time ago had a range of Versace jeans & tops on display. The jeans were priced at almost $600 a pair & the tops at almost $400 each. On checking the labels there for all to see were thee giveaway words: “Made in China”!!
      Today you cannot buy shoes, underwear, shirts,trousers, indeed any fashion goods for women or men, household goods from $1 plastic teaspoons through to the most expensive appliances in David Jones, Myer or any other retailer which are not imported. David Jones & Myer have actively contributed to the demise of the once-vibrant Australian industries of textile & clothing, floor coverings, white goods, homewares etc.
      These big, profit-hungry companies have deliberately & actively added incalcuable “Stimulus to the economies of other countries”
      Helen & Co conveniently overlook the fact that, though people who buy off-shore avoid Australia’s GST of 10%, we do have to pay the GST/VAT/MWS in those countries we buy from. The UK has just increased their VAT to 20%, other countries have rates of 17%, it has been reported that a couple of European countries have their rates as high as 25%! Then we have to add delivery charges and still we can bring those quality goods, particularly from Europe & Japan, goods which are actually Made in the UK, Germany,Japan, France etc. by workers in those countries MUCH CHEAPER than we can buy them from Australia’s big retailers where we pick up the goods & pay our, by comparison, pathetic GST of 10%,
      To add insult to injury the goods we are forced to buy at these big Australian Retailers are not even Made in Australia by Australians.

      Reply

    • bella starkey says:

      10:22am | 06/01/11

      You can buy made in australia clothes but more often than not they are sewn by piece workers, working from home. They are usually newly arrived immigrant women with poor language skills and just because they don’t work in a factory doesn’t mean thier conditions and rates of pay aren’t at sweatshop level.

      Unfortunately this is the cost of cheap consumer goods.

    • retired says:

      12:53pm | 06/01/11

      “we do have to pay the GST/VAT/MWS in those countries we buy from. The UK has just increased their VAT to 20%, other countries have rates of 17%, it has been reported that a couple of European countries have their rates as high as 25%! “

      Not true. European exporters are required to remove the VAT if selling to a customer outside the EU. If your supplier does not, then it’s likely they are a fly-by-nighter.

    • Wilma J Craig says:

      01:50pm | 06/01/11

      There is a difference between buying from an Exporter & a Retail Store. At Retail level if you want to avoid having to pay another country’s GST/VAT/MWS then there is a lot of paperwork to be done. If you are personally in,say, the UK or Germany & want to buy something at retail & have it posted out to Australia there is so much paperwork involved it’s not worth it. I have just purcheased, 2 days ago, from a very reliable, trustworthy, long-established retailer. Before they completed my order they did ask if I wanted the VAT removed & if yes there was paperwork to be done. This would have delayed the despatch of my goods by many days.

    • Jim says:

      09:02pm | 06/01/11

      Actually, when buying from UK online stores from outside the UK, you don’t pay VAT - it should be subtracted from the final price. Of course, shipping is often equivalent to the amount of VAT that was subtracted, but that means that, in a way, shipping ends up being free.
      If you are purchasing something online from the UK and the retailer does not subtract VAT from the price automatically, please ask them to do so, otherwise you are paying it unnecessarily.

    • acker says:

      09:38am | 06/01/11

      I also notice most of these store chains such as Harvey Norman pushing this are mainly selling imported products anyway.
      They spent years decimating small local retailers with predatory prices now they are the hunted..lol

      Reply

    • Rob says:

      09:54am | 06/01/11

      Officeworks will beat any price (internet or other) by 10% if you go into the store and show them the deal.  I recently purchased a digital camera from there and the customer service was fantastic.  After viewing the deal i had printed out the sales guy jumped on the internet and verified it, told me i had scored a bargain and proceeded to take me to the register.
      Same camera is still selling in Harveys for about $150 more than i payed.
      Poor Harvey how can he survive with such poor profit margins???

      Reply

    • bella starkey says:

      10:14am | 06/01/11

      Yeah but office works charges you for a plastic bag. The pisses me off more than anything.

    • iansand says:

      10:26am | 06/01/11

      Officeworks are Myer,

    • commonsensegirlonline says:

      10:28am | 06/01/11

      Officeworks, Nunawading are prepared to do the same as we experienced recently when purchasing a new telephone system for our home. In fact, they even bettered the online price we had found, by several dollars!  No complaints from us and happy to sing their praises. Confirmed to us you don’t get if you don’t ask.

    • Rob says:

      11:03am | 06/01/11

      Well perhaps Myer needs to take some service lessons from one of its own then.  God knows i can’t even fit into an XL casual shirt in Myer and i’m an average sized guy.  Nearly split the arms when i last tried one on and i’m definitely no body builder.  Myer we are not all built like Junkies!!!!

    • Kika says:

      11:34am | 06/01/11

      Rob - I think you’ll find some stores sizes are getting smaller because the sizing is asian sizing, not Australian. I remember once I bought a pair of boots from an asian shoe store in Melbourne and nearly ate my hat because I was now apparently a size 11 (I’m a size 8 normally!)

    • Conrad says:

      04:02pm | 06/01/11

      @ Bella

      Have you seen the reconsituted condoms Target are passing off as shopping bags and for 10cents a piece… WOW.

    • Richo says:

      06:23pm | 06/01/11

      Rob - i think you’ll find Officeworks will beat it by 5%. Bunnings beat other prices by 10%

    • Jane says:

      10:00am | 07/01/11

      My pet peeve with sizing is you can buy all the items from the one “brand” in the store and walk out with a big range of sizes. A recent shopping trip to Kmart saw me with bags containing everything from size 12 to size 18 when I am, according to my measurements, a perfect size 14.

      I suspect it will be this issue that will see people continue to clothes shop in brick and mortar…although normally I clothes shop through EziBuy, a online New Zealand and get good quality clothes where a size 14 label meets the standard measurements for a size 14. They also have a return policy. Much more convenient.

    • dobbieb says:

      09:56am | 06/01/11

      Stephen Cartwright makes huge sense when he talks about some service from the retailer in helping to install the new purchase. Last time we bought a large Flat TV we had to phone a local service man and $50.00 later it was up and running. NO RETAILER SERVICE. The second thing which bugs me is the habit of retailers charging extra for extended warranty. I would like to see NSW Fair Trading make it mandatory for RETAILERS to provide a three year warranty. They would soon put pressure on the manufacturers to do the same.

      Reply

    • Violetta says:

      10:01am | 06/01/11

      I was thinking about this for the past few days and rightly or wrongly my conclusion is thus:
      The GFC panicked everyone, people still wanted to maintain a certain lifestyle and be able to buy the things they like, but were fearful for their jobs. So they look online for cheaper stuff. (employers were using this excuse to fire people).
      The rising price of housing, there are people who can barely afford to buy a house because of the current market,  and you want them to spend big dollars on things they can get cheaper?
      The rising costs of maintaining a household, (bill’s, rates, mortgages, unexpected repairs, etc…)
      Australians work hard, long office hours, not taking much leave.
      I don’t understand how the coalition of retailers don’t understand this, people are too tired to go into the shops, they want to rest and relax with some mindless activity, not battle through car parks, (in some places pay for parking as well), then walk through a giant mall and wait in long lines for the one and only person working on the register (just because they might want to ask a question about the product they are interested in).
      You can go to places like whirlpool ask questions about technology and get more information about said product then a sales person can give you.
      I believe this is the culmination of factors that is leading people to turn to online shopping. I don’t think it is Un-Australian, i think it is people wanting to save a few dollars.

      Reply

    • Danny B says:

      11:09am | 06/01/11

      That’s a very good summary of the situation.  Couldn’t have put it better myself.

    • Denise Webber says:

      10:09am | 06/01/11

      I have refused to step inside a Harvey Norman store for the last seven years, due entirely to the way I was treated by the Salespeople there. I went to buy a new washing machine to replace my old one which couldn’t be repaired any longer, I’d saved up for over a year in order to pay cash, so I could get the best possible deal and quickest delivery time.

      I had an idea of what I wanted and I knew my price range, so I was looking at a certain brand/type, when I asked the Salesperson if they had one in stock and could it be delivered to my area that week- he looked me up and down, assessing I think the quality of my clothes, and rather snottily said-

      “The cheap washing machines are over in that section of the floor, I think you’ll have more success over there finding something suitable for your needs”

      As soon as I pointed out that I had the cash with me to pay for the washing machine *I* wanted his whole attitude changed, but I asked for ANOTHER salesperson, I wasn’t about to give him any commission of my purchase.

      The whole thing left an incredibly sour taste in my mouth, the condescension and sheer effrontery of his attitude turned me off Harvey Norman for ever.

      Customer service seems to be a lost art these days, at least when I buy on the internet and I have concerns, I do actually GET replies to my emails and not just bored looks and in some cases bored and BLANK looks as if I was asking the question in Swahili.

      Reply

    • Rob says:

      11:10am | 06/01/11

      I was going to buy a dishwasher from Harveys as my wifes friend worked there and was happy to give us “staff discount”.  We paid a deposit for the dishwasher which had come down to $1500 (from about $1600 from memory), i was then told that as the store had no warehouse we would have to pick up the item from Maribynong (from Geelong - about 1.5hours drive) or pay to have it delivered in about 2 weeks.  I said i would let them know and went to the local Good Guys where the same dishwasher was offered to me at $1200 and in stock to take home immediately.  I promptly cancelled my buisness at Harveys and have never returned. 
      That in a nutshell is you problem Gerry, not GST or anything else, its blatantly ripping people off and treating your customers as fools.

    • Kika says:

      11:20am | 06/01/11

      It’s a double edged sword really. If you dress up and look ‘rich’ you get noticed but are pushed towards the expensive scale, but if you don’t you get ignored and presumed poor.

      I made a mistake of taking my Gucci bag with me shopping once. The girl must have noticed and tried to convince us that the $200.00 cat towers were better than the regular $70.00 ones. We went with the $70.00 one (even though my husband wanted the $200.00 one!)

    • I hate H.N. even more now says:

      02:07pm | 06/01/11

      I had a similar experience with HN about seven years ago and hadn’t been there since. I thought however, just before last Christmas, that I would see if I could get a vacuume that was out of stock at The Good Guys at H.N. before Christmas, but they refused to come down to the price ‘The Good Guys’ had quoted me. Surely these retailers are all buying their stock at the same price? It’s no wonder these H.N. people are complaining. Clearly other customers are coming to realise that H.N. are not only not able to match fair prices, but their service is terrible.

    • HappyCynic says:

      02:19pm | 06/01/11

      I tried haggling in Harvey Norman once.  I was buying a new TV and walked in there and told the salesman that I had $2500 in my wallet to spend on a TV what was the best deal he was going to give me.  After about half an hour of this guy trying to bump $50 of a crappy TV I didn’t like while I was trying to push him to the ones I did, I left and went to JB HiFi where not only did I get the newer version of the TV I originally wanted (at $500 less than the same one in Harvey Norman) but I got a free HDMI cable, free Optical cable, free PlayTV for the PS3, free PS3 remote, free 5 year warranty, free same day delivery and STILL had $400 left in my wallet smile

      I was so pleased with the result I almost went back to Harvey Norman to gloat.  I figured it wasn’t worth my time so I made a mental note to never shop at Harvey Norman again and went to lunch instead smile

    • bananabender says:

      06:19pm | 07/01/11

      Go to Retravision. They will always knock 10-15% off, throw in some extras and deliver within a day or so.

    • Con Fucious says:

      10:12am | 06/01/11

      Buy in China for $ 20,sell to idiot aussie consumer for $599,much good better

      Reply

    • acker says:

      03:21pm | 06/01/11

      Con Fucious says or Con Harvey says ????

    • Dennis45 says:

      10:13am | 06/01/11

      I was a home theatre installer here in adelaide.I dealt regularly with a local harvey norman for customers—the manager was very pushy about their very expensive cables and saying they had to have upto $600 a cable—I told my clients they werent being honest with them and cheaper $30 cables do exactly the same—if they pass hmdi standards then there is next to no difference in performance—its one big con consumers are being told about harvey normans main brand of cable—I was even told by the manager it would fix problems I was having with a clients player—I have been totally put off by them doing it to people who know little or nothing about home theatre—I am sure when people find out they were taken that those wouldnt return again—had good dealings with JB HIFI and Goodguys and competative pricing

      Reply

    • N says:

      10:21am | 06/01/11

      Stephan; you’re certainly on the money with this article, I’ve been singing a similar tune for years. Any business that fails to innovate is destined to fail. Instead of innovating, retailers have progressively been getting worse.  How many of us have gone into a store and ask relatively simple questions about a potential purchase, only for the staff member to turn the box over and read out the details, as if your dyslexic and can’t read it yourself!

      Its little wonder that people are shopping online, at least you can get some decent feedback on potential purchases, not being pushed into a particular product blind so that staff can make a kickback from the sales rep.

      As for Mr Harvey and his coalition of retailers, I’d say we should put a 10% GST on all overseas purchases. These gouging mongrels are frothing at the mouth about this saying they want “an even playing field”, so let’s give them one. Add 10% GST; take the wind out of their sails, then they can work out the 40%+ price difference they still have.

      Reply

    • Mr-Feelgood says:

      10:22am | 06/01/11

      If buying online is Un-Australian then i’m a immigrant and i will continue to be until retailers sell things for a realistic price. I rarely shop @ Hardly Normal anyway and will continue to avoid them unless i have no choice.

      Reply

    • Gregg says:

      10:34am | 06/01/11

      It seems bashing the big retailers is going to be one of the most popular NY resolutions and for sure they have their faults and overheads much more than any online business will.
      But you do have to have a laugh at the we want our cake and to eat too it attitudes prevailing and no less with the example provided by Stephen:
      ” How often have you visited a showroom to be told: “Yes, you can have your new lounge, but it will take a month to deliver”.  Or better still, after you fork out a four figure sum for the latest and greatest TV, you finally get it home and spend a day wondering how it works and how it connects to the DVD player, the Wii and the home broadband. “
      In the first instance, products do take time to be manufactured and/or to be procured/delivered but re the connections….............. and,
      ” For a company like Harvey Norman, who for many years has been at the forefront of innovation in retailing, it might mean having delivery people who can stay an extra fifteen minutes and help you set up your new TV or new washing machine. “
      Come on Stephen, like you can hardly be proposing that HN delivery people, probably contractors anyway are also TV/Electronics gear technicians or trained to be a bit savvy are you!
      If so it all costs!

      ” In an artificial sense, the clever online retailers are already doing this.  When I visit Amazon, the front page is full of images of goods that Amazon anticipates I will like, given my purchasing history and my demographics.  It doesn’t always get it right, but most times it’s a good match. “
      As for the artificial sense, yep, it is completely artificial and just their way of inherent advertising, same as walking past heaps of associated stuff or unassociated bargain bins in any store.

      I read a few tears back where there was something of a market developing for flat pack assemblers, people buying computer desks, cupboards etc. in kits and being next to useless for assembly.
      I think the same will appy if it does not already to TVs and recorders etc.

      I’ve been successful enough in past hooking up a DVD with the old VCR to the Tele and even have remote earphones but I’m dreading the onset of the digital transmissions where in a semi remote area you cannot really find out where your signals will come from or whether a new aerial will be needed and where the digital box is to be connected into the mix.
      It’s a bit like the internet when if you try and nail down faults you have software, hardware, hardware connections, the weather with satellite, sites malfunctioning or your ISP to attempt screwing.

      Besides the loss of jobs that could occur in retailing, I think with all the new technology, internet shopping included, it is just a step further to that alighting point where it’s ” Please stop the world I want to get off!  “
      Maybe, that’s how Gerry feels too and he just wants happiness in the paddocks with his horses.
      And for an extra twist, when you’re buying something next online or not and you wonder just what did the Chinese make this stuff in the bottle from, also give a thought for 10 year old kids in Bangladesh working at the glass furnace for 12 hours a day and they’re the lucky ones for they have a job even if it is for only a dollar or two a day.

      Reply

    • James1 says:

      11:34am | 06/01/11

      Keep in mind, Gregg, that many of us are bashing the big retailers at the moment because they want to prevent us from purchasing items at the best possible price, as every consumer worth their salt should do, and then going an extra step and calling us unAustralian for acting as any rational economic actor would.  Most of us have no problem with what Mr Harvey does with his stores - that is his business, and from the published figures it makes him and his shareholders a very tidy profit.  What annoys me, and others like me, is when he starts getting upset because people are buying things at a better price, get to keep more of their money, in the process drawing down on Mr Harvey’s profits.  What Mr Harvey and the other retailers are arguing for is for the government to help him transfer wealth from consumers to his own pockets - like some kind of twisted reverse socialism.  If the government was asking Mr Harvey to pay more tax so that it could feed more homeless people, what do you think his response would be?  Thus, I think some big retailer bashing is well in order.

      As for your final paragraph, next time you are buying at a big retailer, why don’t you spare a thought for the children that made the product.  Also keep in mind that as a result of your purchase, those children and their families have a dollar or two more a day than they would otherwise.

    • Markus says:

      12:21pm | 06/01/11

      “And for an extra twist, when you’re buying something next online or not and you wonder just what did the Chinese make this stuff in the bottle from, also give a thought for 10 year old kids in Bangladesh working at the glass furnace for 12 hours a day and they’re the lucky ones for they have a job even if it is for only a dollar or two a day”

      So buying from a retail store in Australia somehow makes all their ‘Made in China’ products come from a different factory, where all the workers are paid well and have good OH&S conditions?

    • TB says:

      01:27pm | 06/01/11

      “Something of a market a few years back for flat-pack assembly.”  Only a few years back? I recall my parents making their first purchase from Ikea nearly a quarter of a century ago when I was but a young lad. As for kit electronics? I dunno. Many technically inclined people are already buying parts off the shelf and building their own PCs (the last time I had a retailer build a PC for me I got swindled), but I think you’re pushing things too far to say the same thing of TVs. A case can certainly be made for digital TV recorders/media centers (as these are little more than remote-controlled PCs that you connect to your TV) - I would have built my own if the cases weren’t so horrendously expensive (some cases cost more than many ready-built media centers!).

    • J says:

      10:37am | 06/01/11

      Yes Gerry I fully agree that we should “level the playing field”.  My way of doing this, however, would be to ban wholesalers from giving bulk discounts to large retailers.  That way, the small businesses would be able to buy at the same price as the large companies, and would therefore be in a position to compete.

      Reply

    • Dwgw says:

      02:52pm | 06/01/11

      Absolutely agree. I know BigUU and Woolies toy deptments get 100% return rights after Christmas (gee you can stock a lot of bargains then) but the smaller retailers dont. And the book wholesalers have to provide their staff to stock and tidy the shelves of BigUU, but the smaller retailers dont get that.
      Smaller retailers are treated like dirt in this country.

    • notsurprised says:

      10:44am | 06/01/11

      Great article. Maybe if the Gerry Harvey’s didn’t have a singular mindset of, “How can I further increase my profit margins?” and adopted the attitude of “How can I service my customers better and make their buying experience more positive?” they wouldn’t be feeling the heat. All sales industries would be better off based on a win-win mentality rather than trying to screw the highest amount of cash from the customer.

      Reply

    • bjorn says:

      10:55am | 06/01/11

      I think its “Barbara from Bankworld” but great article smile

      Reply

    • Kelly says:

      02:57pm | 06/01/11

      Yes! I was sitting there trying to work out who the hell Betty from Bankworld was. Barbara’s sister?

    • Kelly says:

      02:57pm | 06/01/11

      Yes! I was sitting there trying to work out who the hell Betty from Bankworld was. Barbara’s sister?

    • Kika says:

      11:12am | 06/01/11

      Gerry refused to adapt to online delivery of his business a long time ago because he thought it was a fad. Does he realise that if a business structure fails to keep pace with the market trends they will fail?

      I reckon Harvey Norman was so successful at it’s hey day because of their ridiculous interest free finance deals you could get buying things. Remember the day when you would walk into a Harvey Norman knowing “Buy now, pay later?” Well I reckon we’re all a little bit more cautious about these things now. How many people suffered as a result of the MASSIVE interest charged on these things if they failed to pay up by the due date? Plus with the GFC I reckon a lot of people have thought twice about upgrading the TV or buying a new air con and the lure of buying now, paying later doesn’t seem as appealing as it used to.

      I am getting tired of Gerry’s crying. He’s being a complete hypocrite. Maybe he should be asking why one of his hundred race horses hasn’t won a proper race yet and impose a GST on all horse owners, trainers and jockeys who have won a race just to make things a level playing field.

      Reply

    • petery says:

      11:12am | 06/01/11

      I am not a great consumer, and am unaustralian to that extent because I don’t generally buy things that I don’t need, just to feel good or to make myself feel superior to the Smiths,Jones or The Singhs next door. Retailers on the internet and places like Harvey Norman rely on   this level of addiction to shopping or consumerism to stay in business

      . I generally keep things till they fall to bits, as handling expensive mortgages has made me want to keep my expenses down. I don’t generally buy brand new DVDS and I wait till they are sold for under ten dollars. If i don’t want them then, I never wanted them in the first place. I love books, but unfortunately the kinds of books I read generally don’t get remaindered or reduced and are not necessarily cheaper on the internet.

      Retailers are not interested in service,but you get what you pay for. Consumers want champage quality and service, but don’t want to pay for it.  They just want things as cheaply and quickly as possible.If Australian retailers could employ slave labour, did not need glamorous showrooms, or pay for any overheads, they could easily compete with the internet.

      If the internet does put storefronts out of business, where are consumers going to see and test the product,apart from pretty pictures in catalogues? Since the internet businesses will then have no competition, won’t this make prices higher in the long run? That is how capitalism and business has always worked, and also on the Barnun principle that there is one born every minute.P ardon me for being cynical,but why should people whose way of life is driven by profit, expect any different.

      The consumer will benefit most if both methods of retail trade continue to survive.

      Reply

    • Markus says:

      12:30pm | 06/01/11

      Both will continue to survive, it is just that the retail trade will have to improve and adapt their current business models to stay competitive.

      Some will fail, while others will thrive. The end result will be a much better retail market in this country offering better deals to consumers without having to mark up prices to feed ridiculous franchise cuts and bow to overpriced wholesalers and distributors.

    • sara says:

      12:36pm | 06/01/11

      Good point. We do need retail stores to compete with online stores. If retail stores disappear, online shops will become the monopoly and just charge whatever they want and there will be no retail stores at all.  I also like retail shops and going to the mall as it is a place to meet my friends for coffee and browse the stores.  If we don’t have retail, how will I know what a perfume smells like before I buy it? Or what colour makeup to wear?  We need to support our local retail stores, but they in turn need to adapt to the market.  I think the whole retail industry needs a re-examination, in particular looking at the charges that suppliers and manufacturers charge retailers.

    • Jane says:

      10:36am | 07/01/11

      How is this said “online monopoly” going to occur? Online incompasses every online store in every country on teh planet…that is a lot of stores that would need to work together to increase prices!

    • Robbo says:

      11:18am | 06/01/11

      Sales staff have no idea how to get a sale these days. But I think the employer or boss man has them running aroung doing multiple tasks and as a result have no time for customers. Bottom line is profit for company’s but their shooting themselves in the foot and not going the right way about it.
      I hope 95 percent of aussies now avoid Gerry like the plague and just get rid of his monopoly.

      Reply

    • Robbo says:

      11:18am | 06/01/11

      Sales staff have no idea how to get a sale these days. But I think the employer or boss man has them running aroung doing multiple tasks and as a result have no time for customers. Bottom line is profit for company’s but their shooting themselves in the foot and not going the right way about it.
      I hope 95 percent of aussies now avoid Gerry like the plague and just get rid of his monopoly.

      Reply

    • Carol says:

      12:03pm | 06/01/11

      Good article.
      Message to ‘the whingeing retailers’, improve customer service in the shop, point of sale, at delivery coupled with fair pricing and online acces, they’ll comfortably increase their sales and have lots of repeat customers. DJs is part way there albeit a bit slow.
      Have to agree that smaller retailers provide this wholistic valuable customer service and they get me back every time whether online or shopping in person - I like the choice!
      As for margins, major retailers (aka Woolworths, Coles, Myer, Harvey Norman, Bunnings etc etc) since time immemorial have demanded from manufacturers, wholesalers and rental space providers greater price discounts than any small retailers.
      Question I have is what is Westfield and other shopping malls going to contribute to ensure all retailers get that ‘level playing field’?

      Reply

    • Dwgw says:

      02:59pm | 06/01/11

      They dont contribute a thing. They force their shop keepers to continually change their shops whether they need it or not. They force previous owners to come back and open up again if new owners go bankrupt. They allow anyone to open up, even if the centre is overlaoded with the same type of business. In short, they dont care. They force retailers to pay other levies that have nothing to do with rent (eg advertising fees, )

    • Robz says:

      08:55pm | 06/01/11

      Shopping centres are doing nothing to help their retailers. I used to work for a business based in a shopping centre location and our rent was $x/month plus x% of profit.  So the better we did in a month (without any assistance from the shopping centre to imrpove our business) the more rent we had to pay - hardly a way to encourage retailers’ success.

    • Dave says:

      01:12pm | 06/01/11

      The claims that jobs will be lost in retail are redundant. MOST of the time when a job dries up a new one springs to life elsewhere. My local Austpost Parcel delivery man told me in the last couple of years his workload has increased to the point that another 3 persons were hired fulltime to handle the excess! I’m pretty sure the same would apply with Courier business. How is that bad?
      If Gerry Harvey placed more emphasis lower price=sell more, he would see that manufacturing would increase and the same amount of profit could be made. Perhaps if these big retail chains didnt spend millions on refurbing their shops every couple of months they wouldnt need to charge like wounded bulls to recoupe the money spent.
      My heart will bleed knowing they have to get the $200,000 Jaguar XJS instead of the $250,000 model because i buy online.

      Reply

    • Shannon says:

      02:06pm | 06/01/11

      It’s interesting that Gerry Harvey cries that he is a retail victim - but when he took over the Norman Ross carpet business in the 1980s he was quick to fire all the hard-working older workers who had been with the company for years and replaced them with cheaper, inexperienced staff. How do I know this? My partner’s father was shown the door. Gerry Harvey has had it too good for too long. I’m sick of him crying poor to the media to try to get public sympathy. Thank you for this article as it highlights the real problem of retail - the complete absence of customer service. The War and Peace analogy is so true!

      Reply

    • Bargain hunter says:

      02:07pm | 06/01/11

      There are two things that amaze me about this story.

      One, its pretty clear that many posters are content to take the advertised ticket or sale price at face value. Unless you’re in a chain supemarket, for heavens sake try and bargain. There’s any number of ways to ask for a better price. And don’t ever do the “pay nothing for X months” deal.

      Bargain down from the ticket price or from the marked down price. Offer cash. Offer to take the display model. Ask for a better price. Press. Ask for something to be thrown in - batteries, memory card, case, spares, DVD blanks, whatever suits. Offer to go elsewhere, and mean it.

      Anything but pay the marked price front up. And avoid the “Extra Warranty” bulldust.

      Bargain. Works in car yards, new and 2nd hand, works in almost every retail chain except supermarkets. Costs nothing to ask.

      As for Harvey, Levy and Myers, let ‘em all stew. Level playing field my fat foot.

      Overseas online purchases were less than 1% of total sales according to reports. Adding 10% GST even if practical,  will do nothing to stop people buying those things theyc annot get here for any money, let alone things worth buying new unseen at lower prices.

      And what about 2nd hand goods? Books, Videos, CDs, etc?

      Got a Trash n Treasure franchise on the back burner, have you, Harvey?

      It’s nothing to do with the Internet. Nothing to do with the flamin GST. Domestic retail is off the boil because we’re trying to save a bit, you grubby grasping clown.

      Reply

    • JJJ says:

      02:14pm | 06/01/11

      Hardly Normal are ‘The Bad Guys’

      Reply

    • Bananabender says:

      02:46pm | 06/01/11

      I have been buying and selling online for over six years. I am still amazed at the naivety of most buyers.

      Most legitimate fashion houses have a total prohibition on online selling.

      Virtually all the designer clothes, shoes, handbags, jewellery, watches fragrances and sunglasses sold by online auction sites are counterfeit.

      In most case international warranties will not be honoured.  Only products sold by authorised retailers are covered by warranty.

      Reply

    • grumpy old man says:

      08:28am | 07/01/11

      and most designer products are made in exactly the same Asian factory as the so called ‘knock offs ’ the only real difference being the tag, for which you pay a outlandish premium. Designer products are only;y selling a brand, very few of them represent any additional material value over other products made in the same factories.

    • Caine says:

      03:01pm | 06/01/11

      It’s not so much that sales staff are hard to find it’s more of a case that sales staff who actually know what it is they are talking about or selling are hard to find.

      Reply

    • Bananabender says:

      03:18pm | 06/01/11

      It is nonsense to say that it is too hard to impose GST on overseas transactions. All major online sites such as Ebay and Amazon already charge state-based sales tax to US residents.

      In fact it is simply a matter of a 10% GST surcharge automatically being made on all credit card or bank transactions. The GST can be claimed back if used fro business use.

      Reply

    • MsSmack says:

      03:19pm | 06/01/11

      Hmm New Wii, unopened, warranty for $199 online? Or big retailers up to $300?

      Harvey Norman doesn’t like a bit of competition, then pull your socks up or suck it up, princess.

      UnAustralian - pffft.

      Who the hell are you to throw such a term around?

      I got all of my xmas shopping done without leaving the house this year, delivered, some wrapped, efficient service, with a smile from a transport company - and all, without your snooty customer service reps that look down at you, treat you like an idiot and what not - no thanks.

      Reply

    • Bargain Hunter says:

      03:38pm | 06/01/11

      Prediction for you.

      After enough days of of dithering & silence,  the Libs will
      - come out with some slippery position against Harvey’s Internet Tax
      - try and blame the Government

      Betcha.

      Reply

    • Andrew says:

      03:55pm | 06/01/11

      Those who have travelled overseas will know that not only are products cheaper, even with all of the taxes and assorted charges, exchange rates etc, etc but that there is so many more products available than what is available in Australia.  If retailers like Gerry “Abnormal” Harvey are going to complain because his forecasted margins are way off track, perhaps you might like to maybe Compete for business, not just expect it to walk in the door and hand over hard earned money because we need to prove we are Australian!  What do you take us for??

      Reply

    • Eve says:

      04:42pm | 06/01/11

      I have worked for a weekend in one of the original stores many moons ago, customer service was not encouraged, a sale was the only thing that counted,  I know of some of who bought things with the interest free period etc. they are still paying things off years down the track, well I suppose that is how he got where he is today, times are changing

      Reply

    • guy lee hanlon says:

      07:14pm | 06/01/11

      no retailer, no shopping mall, no shopping centre and no shop will survive this century. The internet will rule all sales.
      Soon the Liberal Party will be empty of small business owners, shop retail owners and green voters.
      Labor and the internet will rule Australia forever.

      Reply

    • Alannah says:

      10:37pm | 06/01/11

      It’s funny how Gerry Harvey stocks his shops with overseas goods along with David Jones, Myer, Target. If it’s un-Australian to shop overseas off the internet then why not stock Australian made in your shops? After all if your that worried about Australian jobs you should put your money where your mouth is and chuck out all your stock made overseas and bring in Australian made, we are only doing what your doing Gerry just at a cheaper price

      Reply

    • neil says:

      10:45pm | 06/01/11

      So is that photo about hot chicks undressing each other? Or about shoes?

      Reply

    • Grant says:

      01:05am | 07/01/11

      Harvey Norman’s franchising business model does not work anymore, it is as simple as that, and Gerry Harvey knows it. This is his way of trying to protect something that does not work.  Franchise systems do not allow flexibility by the franchisee.  In this case being able to match much cheaper prices.  No wonder HN share price is heading south.  Add to this Gerry Harvey not seeing the internet as a legitimate competitor, and you have a perfect storm.  It wouldn’t surprise me to see them out of business within a couple of years.  Online sales in the US had their biggest increase ever in 2010, this is only going to accelerate, increasing competition even more.

      Reply

    • tony says:

      03:30am | 07/01/11

      HARVEY YOU PRICK,

      Im happy to pay more if all of your products made in Australia. Smart ass like you bough the stuff from China, import to Australia, jackup 3 times the retail price, and now you want us to pay even more? Get a life you prick.

      Reply

    • watch me walking away from your store says:

      07:08am | 07/01/11

      Why would anyone ever go to Greedy Normans to price match a competitor. Speak with your feet and wallets and give the business to the competitor who is willing to put their price out there. Boycott the greedy bastards and force them to update their model because every purchase you make even with a price match still makes money for Greedy Harvey and his Coalition of Greed.

      Reply

    • Hmmm says:

      10:02am | 07/01/11

      Harvey Norman?  Who is Norman and what happened to him?

      Reply

    • Heather says:

      10:37am | 07/01/11

      I will happily pay slightly extra for local shopping IF I can get the product I want NOW, IF the customer service is good, and if it is not too much more expensive; 10% extra is fine; 200% extra is NOT. However, in most cases, the product is unavailable for weeks, Super Amart is a prime example, floorstock is NEVER available immediately; or the service is nonexistent or terrible. For example, I tried to buy a cookery book in Brisbane yesterday; now this was not an obscure book, but a Jamie Oliver cookbook, which is currently on TV, and advertised as IN BOOKSTORES NOW. Could I buy it anywhere? No. So I got home and looked on the local bookstores online sites, and found it for $69, with 2 weeks delivery. Did I buy it? No. I just bought it for 13 pounds + delivery ($35 in total), with 4 days delivery from Amazon UK. It’s a no brainer. Also, many local retailers websites are atrocious…they have no capacity to buy online, they have no updated online catalogue or search facility, and some even make you download pdf’s and fill them out and post them!!! What century are they living in?

      Reply
 
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