Retail
Have you ever been to Balmain in the inner city of Sydney? Or have you been down a suburban shopping strip in your capital city? If you have you will know that something has changed over the years.
Even when walking down the shopping strip in your local town centre you are bound to have seen some changes. More often than not you will find that places like Balmain or your own local town centre are not as vibrant as they used to be.
There may be more vacant shops or the shops may be looking tired or run down which all makes the shopping strip less appealing. Some town centres may even be attracting gangs of youths or the graffiti artists which may all detract from the shopping strip.
Continue reading "Councils have to put the ‘strip’ back into shopping" »
Thrifty spenders – or tightarses as they’re more commonly known – are pretty adept at receiving widespread social disdain.
Admittedly, pinching pennies is a tricky business. One has to really embrace those nicknames, as well as the end-of-meal groans from fellow diners upon whipping out the scientific calculator. And let’s not even get started on those tried and tested anti-Semitic jokes.
Now the tightarse is being targeted with another knife: the future of the Australian retail industry. No biggie.
Continue reading "Thrifty Aussies don’t spell the end for retail" »
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SteveKAG says:
Keith i could introduce you to 100 people who do not use the internet and you know very well what i mean by using a web browser…......so i am wrong you claim, based on what? your view? Read more »
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Economist says:
@Arthur,I wouldn’t call myself mainstream, nor a textbook economist, in that many of my colleagues and other Punchers think I’m too left. As to some of your assertions, firstly it’s great that you’ve done well in the market . It reminds me of my mate David Walsh who has made… Read more »
Houndstooth branding, glistening perfume counters and the sound of a piano floating through the lobby in the afternoon. The David Jones department store has always been more than a little up itself. For good reason. It’s a brand synonymous with quality, luxury goods and rarefied notions of good taste.
It’s a powerful and effective retail attitude that’s worked for the company since 1838. But it’s time for a serious revamp. If David Jones wants to survive this slump, they need to make it easier for us to buy their stuff.
The modern consumer wants more than easy access to great brands. We want dynamism, convenience, intelligence and flexibility just as much. Maybe even more.
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Whooping Cough says:
I’m one of those ex-employees that had a hideous experience. I lasted three months in head office. That was nearly three years ago. I worked on ‘projects’. At the time they were planning on updating the registers because they had completely run out of parts to repair the ones in… Read more »
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Pete says:
DJ’s like Myers lost the plot when they cut staff back. Now it’s full of (not many) low-rent casualised staff in a dead-end retail jobs. The sooner Australia gets rid of retail and its skill-less career structure, the better for the country. There are already too many damn shops for… Read more »
We all know the classic scene from Jerry Maguire when Jerry (Tom Cruise) begs Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr) in a football stadium change-room to “help me, help you……heeelllllp me, help you” in finding Tidwell that elusive major football contract.
This expression comes to mind every time I walk out of a retailer at the moment, an industry from whom in recent times, we have heard nothing but whinging, whining, pleading and begging of their customers throughout Australia to return to the store rather than shop around for the cheapest online deal.
Having saved my hard earned pennies and recently embarked on some post-Christmas sale shopping, I am convinced that the Australian Government should ignore any further pleading from retailers to remove the GST exemption on overseas imports below $1,000. That is until retailers can prove (a) they actually want to run a business involving a physical store selling items, goods or chattels; and (b) to serve the customer.
Continue reading "Our online shopping habit serves shoddy retailers right" »
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Mr real man says:
i understand ur sentiment stephen. in and out. done (which is funnily enough related to our dealings with women as well…if you get my inference…) emily proved your point by not actually talking about something related Read more »
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Jason Todd says:
Anjuli - I don’t want to generalise here, but I was a young male server who was guilty of sometimes yawning while I served people. Of course I would always apologise. The reality of it though was I was up at 5am to open at my first job at 6:30,… Read more »
If you’re in a Harvey Norman store right now preparing to buy a video game, put it down. Gerry has commanded you.
The CEO of electronics chain Harvey Norman Gerry Harvey has admitted defeat and will finally be opening an online store.
But he won’t be selling fridges. Oh no. Nor will he be selling fans, or air-conditioning units, or iPods, iPads, televisions or cameras.
Continue reading "Hypocrite Harvey goes stormin’ into cyberspace" »
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Dave says:
Yeah, but the point is that the differences in price are not due to the GST; its due to the big mark ups on the goods. Dont believe me? Then how come Gerry Harvey is a multi multi millionaire? Gerry’s shops could have competed with online - if he’d been… Read more »
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Pete #205 says:
Mick, three things. First, there is a GST on imports, but it only kicks in at (I think) $1000. That’s the amount they’ve worked out where the cost of collecting the tax becomes worthwhile. Second, you’ll find that many who buy online, like me, save much, much more than 10%… Read more »
One of the quirky differences any Australian notices when they go to the USA is the culture of tipping.
Lower wages mean that waiters, and some other hospitality workers, are at the mercy of patrons who decide if they get to take home enough money to pay their rent and bills.
Australia has gone down a different route, where pay is guaranteed and tips represent a bonus for workers.
Continue reading "Wage cuts would only add to retails of woe" »
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mick says:
Get real. Lower pay is all about putting more and more money into the pockets of bosses. I mean is one million dollar holiday house and one Ferrari not enough? And can you imagine that bosses will forego their (regular) 10% pa salary increase? Can you imagine that our politicians… Read more »
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stephen says:
CEO’s and Directors do not ‘own’ a Company ; they are employed by the shareholders and as such, should, by law, be as answerable to the tenets of poor management as workers are to poor procedure - and the sack. Though Directors may own lots of shares, they are responsible… Read more »
If Macquarie Bank was capitalism’s “Millionaires Factory,’’ the Labor equivalent, at least in SA, is the powerful Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association which turns out parliamentary careers.
Indeed, click on the party’s SA website where it says “Constitution and Rules’’ and the first thing that comes up is an ad for the shoppies’ union.
The socially-conservative SDA has been extraordinary in the degree to which it has dominated the party, colouring its policies, determining its leadership and personnel, and funding its political campaigns.
Continue reading "Swipe your way to a parliamentary career" »
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emel says:
Michael be careful. Your history is not one to be overly proud of, and throwing unsubstantiated comments out there just might backfire on you. Is it not understandable that many journalists who have a keen interest in politics have had various organisational memberships in their past? Kenny shows no anger… Read more »
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emel says:
Michael be careful. Your history is not one to be overly proud of, and throwing unsubstantiated comments out there just might backfire on you. Is it not understandable that many journalists who have a keen interest in politics have had various organisational memberships in their past? Kenny shows no anger… Read more »
According to Penbo, the retail union’s anachronistic attachment to Catholic values - keep the Lord’s day holy and all that - spells trouble for the retail industry.
As a card-carrying Catholic, and a former member of (and organiser for) the shop assistants’ union, I thought it might be fair to lob a few thoughts into the mix by way of retort.
As it happens, my mum and sister run a bookshop in Sydney’s CBD (www.portico.com.au), and a mighty fine one at that, so I am no stranger to the challenges faced by retailers in the current market.
Continue reading "Families close for business when shops open longer" »
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DrFriendless says:
Tim, the retail industry should be doing everything it can to hold onto customers. As far as I’m concerned, most retailers might as well close down because they’re never open when I’m not working. That’s a shame because I have a lot of money to spend. As for Sundays, there… Read more »
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SydSteve says:
The Union is there to protect the rights of the employee. Not the rights of the Employer or Consumer. Read more »
One of the joys of multiculturalism is that if you suddenly find yourself hankering for a kilogram of pork belly or some Hello Kitty stationery at 9pm on a Monday, you can head to a suburb such as Ashfield in Sydney’s west and shop until you drop.
If Australia has a restrictive shopping hours regime, someone forgot to tell our Chinese friends. In places such as Ashfield or in the many Chinatowns around the land the shops open pretty much whenever they want – which, with the work ethic that defines this excellent community, is almost all the time.
It’s a different story if you have the misfortune of landing in the centre of one of our bigger cities – worst of all Adelaide – on a public holiday weekend, only to discover that penalty rates and state-legislated restrictions on trading hours have combined to deliver a retail experience which is almost as much fun as queuing for bread in Moscow.
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Rob says:
yep Adelaide is a backwater… Read more »
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marley says:
Italy works along the lines of 9 to 1, then 4 to 8. That gives everyone time for lunch, and time for evening shopping. And a siesta in between. Very civilized. Read more »
Shut down the Productivity Commission. There’s only one reason shopping as we know it will never die, and that’s women.
That’s right, you heard me. From the malls to the arcades, we fairer sex are the lifeblood of shopping and it will take more than a little internet habit to put us off our game.
Here’s why.
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TheresaSharp says:
I had a dream to begin my firm, nevertheless I did not have enough amount of cash to do that. Thank God my mate said to take the loans. Thence I used the collateral loan and made real my desire. Read more »
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jim morris says:
I was referring to the general state of the misandric zeitgeist when I questioned your use of the term fairer. The feminist state thrives on cheating and unfair advantage. For example, if I was to suggest one sex was fairer (or smarter, or stronger etc) I would be accused of… Read more »
Dear Traditional Australian Retailers,
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.
Continue reading "A letter to Australia’s traditional retailers: it’s over" »
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Robert S McCormick says:
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… Read more »
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marley says:
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… Read more »
I arrive at The Press Club on Flinders Street a little early. It’s booked solid. Another noisy night. Kara leads me to one of the quieter tables around the corner. Water will be fine, thank you.
Remarkable to think this was once the headquarters of the mighty Herald and Weekly Times. Newsroom into luxury apartments, print shop into cellar bar, foyer into modern Greek restaurant. Marvelous what you can do with some Kalamata olives and Feta drizzled with a hit television series and a celebrity chef.
Bernie Brookes makes his way to my table. The chief of Myer Holdings is all smiles. Always is. The perils of more than 30 years in retail. The last few herding shareholders. The shoulders of his dark suit are a little stooped.
Continue reading "It’ll take more than free shipping to keep customers" »
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Tom says:
I think the author was taking the piss out of Myers management. Read more »
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Bruce says:
Anna C. Agree. I like going into Myer stores, however, finding help is near impossible. Unless I know EXACTLY what I want, there appears to be little point going into Myers. The shop assistants you can see appear to have to manage a number of service desks and have little… Read more »
Sitting on my desk is a picture of a fox wearing a green jacket and pink tie. Thanks to a childhood immersed in Beatrix Potter, I’m enchanted by anthropomorphised animals (and smarty-pants words, it seems) but, mostly, I love my fox because he made me laugh.
You see, I ordered him online and he arrived this morning wrapped in recycled paper. “Hi, Angela,” said the note that came with him. “You smell nice and your hair looks great today.”
With service like that, what’s not to love about internet shopping? Plus, you do it in your pyjamas, and it’s delivered right to your door.
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trigeekgirl says:
@Demoman. So you buy…precisely nothing? No TV? No car? No mobile phone? No games console or books or DVD’s? You don’t eat or clothe yourself? You don’t live in a house, or consume electricity or water or gas? You don’t drink coffee - takeaway or otherwise? Not being a fem-banshee,… Read more »
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Cate P says:
OMG if you have a credit card you don’t need money do you? Read more »
Queensland retailers are revolting. Well, they’re fighting back against the trend of people who enter their shops, try on their stuff and then leave without buying it.
What shoppers are doing is sizing it so they can buy it online.
As an online shopper, I take a lot of risks with my purchases. Ask anyone I know if they’ve been given something I’ve bought online because it was too small or too big.
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Destry says:
You’ve really captured all the essnteails in this subject area, haven’t you? Read more »
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libertarian vegetarian says:
Kika, the article is not about shopping on line, it’s about going into a store, trying things on and then buying them elsewhere. I have my own business, not in retail though, so I can understand the concepts here. It is beyond ‘looking for a bargain’, it is the deliberate… Read more »
Reading the news yesterday that the United States bookstore chain Border has gone into bankruptcy, I began to ask myself how long it could possibly be before a big Australian chain met the same fate. Unfortunately the wait wasn’t long.
A press release came out that afternoon announcing that REDGroup, who control Borders Australia, Angus and Robertson and Whitcoulls in New Zealand, were being placed into administration. This will affect 260 stores.
Really, it is a wonder this didn’t happen earlier given that Australian booksellers have been defying the laws of market theory that would have sent other businesses bust long ago. There are a few reasons why this was pretty inevitable. One involves parallel import laws and the other the internet, but the two are closely linked.
Continue reading "Publishers and book sellers have sealed their own fate" »
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Bookshopowner says:
$25 per hour would cover holiday pay sick pay work cover super and with the US’s high unemployment you sure can pay minimum wage waitresses can get as little as $2.50 per hour -they HAVE to get tips if Royal Mail were on at least full cost recovery UK books… Read more »
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Sweetpea says:
Rob the (former) Bookseller: $25 per hour to work in a bookshop?! Are you serious? Perhaps overpaying your casual staff is why your store went broke. Approx 5 years ago I was, as an adult, legally paid $12 per hour. Now I’m a ‘professional’ with a degree and 5 years… Read more »
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and successive governments have failed to curb retailers’ increasing market power, which is why Australians pay more at the store.
Gerry Harvey may be one of Australia’s well known and most successful “traditional” retailers, but he has seriously misjudged the consumer support for online retailing. He is not alone in getting it wrong. Major retailers and shopping centre landlords have also been very unhappy with Australian consumers going online to buy from overseas websites.
Why are the major retailers and shopping centre landlords unhappy with the growth of online retailing? Simply because online retailing offers very strong competition to the major retailers and shopping centre landlords. In the “old” days before the rise of the internet, consumers were basically forced to visit shopping centres and department stores to purchase products.
Continue reading "A cosy club: Why we pay more at the store" »
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Shifter says:
@Zach @Ironside Only certain distributors do this. 2K is a prime example. Others (EA from memory) have identical prices in all regions. The reason for the price difference is backlash from bricks and mortar stores to certain distributors in Australia. The exclusive distribution rights of middle man companies has been… Read more »
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Deb says:
My husband recently went looking for safety chaps to use when cutting wood with a chainsaw on our property. The cheap Chinese pair on sale at the local hardware super-retailer cost the same as the competition standard US pair he ordered over the internet, including postage. GST is not the… Read more »
Change and innovation are always feared, and therefore always resisted.
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!
Continue reading "Why good retailers will survive the internet" »
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Jim says:
@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… Read more »
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James says:
@ 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… Read more »
Sometimes you’ve just got to laugh in the face of brazen hypocrisy and insincerity. It can be pretty funny, after all.
One of my favourites was last year’s public campaign from the ‘Alliance of Australian Retailers’ railing against the mooted introduction of plain cigarette packaging.
Their hilarious (but deadly serious) message was “It won’t work so why do it?” Which, for me, prompted two questions: 1. Shouldn’t that question have a comma in the middle of it? And, 2. If you’re so sure it won’t work, why are you wasting around $9 million on an ad campaign to try and stop it?
Continue reading "Astroturfing: It’s what the big retailers do to get their way" »
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bargearse says:
I agree with the posts above relating to the implementation costs of imposing GST on OS purchases being the ‘real’ reason Gerry Harvey et al want the GST imposed. He may be an old codger, but he’s a good enough business man to know that making items 10% more expensive… Read more »
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Barry says:
I will believe what you say when you apply equal exposure to the other side. Your article seems to be very one sided. Read more »
Rather than go in to bat for Australian consumers, local retailers are supporting a campaign to reduce competition and make us pay more. With that attitude, it’s little wonder so many of us are looking online when we go shopping.
Electronics retailer Gerry Harvey kicked off the war against consumers last November when he called on the government to remove the GST exemption for goods purchased online from overseas.
He also revealed that lobbying of politicians to effect this outcome had been underway for some time.
Continue reading "Big retailers are declaring war on competition" »
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Reg says:
KH,... I lived in the US for some time and it came as a very pleasant surprise to find that clothes stores stocked just about every combination of trouser and shirt arm, leg and waist measurement one could imagine. (In season) But that wasn’t the only thing. The clothes from… Read more »
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acotrel says:
I just love trhose ads - Buy Harvey Norman , WOW!!!! There should be a law about telivision ads which jack up the volume. If I see one of Gerry’s ads on TV, I usually hit the mute button, and often change the channel! Read more »
Since November 1 to December 9, our household has received 121 pieces of junk mail.
Why am I counting this? Well, a few reasons. Mostly I’m interested because I used to do this sort of thing for a living. Second we live in some sort of junk mail hotspot.
When the first Christmas catalogue came out before Melbourne Cup, I remembered how many we got last year and wondered how much it was. So far: 121 pieces.
Continue reading "One woman’s junk mail is another’s goldmine" »
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Jasper says:
TChong: I guess anyone who supports a different cause to yours, has been paid by a big corporation, right? I love junk mail, online catalogues, Big Macs, Coca Cola, reality cooking shows, Apple, Google, ASOS, Nestle, and the shameless brand mentions continue. I assume therefore, I have been paid to… Read more »
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Rod Blaine says:
I see. She looked juuuuuuust enough like your mugshot to get me wondering how one gets to score a Punch column at 17… PS: And what is your grievance against Section 100 of the Constitution? Read more »
Have you ever wondered where you can buy the cheapest petrol or groceries? Well, if you have, then you would know that such information is not readily available.
You may try and search for the information, but in Australia you will soon find that there is generally no single place to get it. Yes, there may be some pricing information out there but it may be very limited, out of date or not in a readily accessible form.
In practice, this lack of full price transparency places you, the consumer, at a severe disadvantage. How many times have you driven by a petrol station offering one price only to find another service station down the road offering a cheaper price? What if you had decided to go into the first service station to buy your petrol only to later drive by the cheaper service station down the road? We have all been there and felt ripped off in the process.
Continue reading "Transparent fuel and grocery prices: time for another go?" »
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Someone says:
Failing that, two simple rules for 90% of the time in Perth: 1. Go on Wednesday (sometimes Thursday, but this is riskier) 2. Boycott Profiteering (read the abbreviations to find which station I’m primarily talking about. Hint: They always lead the cycle on Wednesday) Read more »
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Aberford says:
Sherlock, you’re missing the point. Your clever reference to tenths of a cent is a diversion, perhaps inadvertently, from what Frank Zumbo is saying. He makes the point that the corporates have realtime info about market pricing, and consumers do not, so the corporates can, and do, use this advantage… Read more »
In the run up to Father’s Day the electrical stores are spruiking like it’s Christmas. You can be sure that along with any of the hot deals from digital cameras to TVs will come one innocent –sounding question.
At the very point of sale when you’re about to hand over the cash for dad’s gift you’ll be asked “Would you like an extended warranty with that?”
It sounds simple enough. An few extra years’ “protection” for a hundred bucks or so, depending on the price of the item.
Continue reading "Are we being served? The rort of extended warranties" »
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Ron Boaden says:
A couple of points here. Firstly, the reason Exteded Warranties can only be purchased at the time of sale is due to a stupid Govt. regulation that states that (for some obscure reason) if it is offered after the sale, it constitutes insurance advice, which can only be offered by… Read more »
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David (London) says:
A considered and practical guide to this issue. Thank you. Read more »
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