Why Aussies are Buying Overseas. Amazon Service

[flappist]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

We have the same issue at work, lets be honest, everyone including me wants more for doing less, I was having a chat to my supervisor and he mentioned the same thing. We're an auto elec business but we're more of a manufacturer, we produce emergency vehicles for the whole country.

I understand where we're all coming from on the boss side of things, I mentioned one thing:

If its so bad why don't you fire everyone, and ship the entire operation off to China?

He didn't have a response.

They already make our furniture for our vehicles and our wiring looms, why can't they put them together?

Why not sack everyone and ship it offshore?

Well I have been in that situation where I could have done so but like many Australians I believe in this country and usually do the best I can to make it a better place.

I talk it up when overseas rather than berate it.
I train and employ Australians rather than import fully trained people.
I spend most of my money here and will buy Australian produce before imported when available.

I am a bit worried that the old Australian adage of "looking after your mates" has been replaced by the "stuff everyone else it is all about me" mentality that appears so often on television.

Yes are goods are more expensive than other parts of the world but our wages are also higher, our conditions better, our hospitals and ambulances are basically free and we support more bludgers per head of population than anywhere else on the planet.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by flappist

Why not sack everyone and ship it offshore?

Well I have been in that situation where I could have done so but like many Australians I believe in this country and usually do the best I can to make it a better place.

I talk it up when overseas rather than berate it.
I train and employ Australians rather than import fully trained people.
I spend most of my money here and will buy Australian produce before imported when available.

I am a bit worried that the old Australian adage of "looking after your mates" has been replaced by the "stuff everyone else it is all about me" mentality that appears so often on television.

Yes are goods are more expensive than other parts of the world but our wages are also higher, our conditions better, our hospitals and ambulances are basically free and we support more bludgers per head of population than anywhere else on the planet.

Its going to happen eventually, until the Chinese stand up and want a western lifestyle, its inevitable.

In todays society, the whole "looking after your mates" doesn't exist anymore. I say you do whats best for the most important person in your life and thats you.

[snappy]

Originally Posted by AMGC63

Im sick to death at retailers being accused of "screwing people over" or being greedy just because they ask the best price possible for their goods...

That's not screwing people over or being greedy, its called staying in business and making profit, the aim of any good sound business.

"Screwing someone over" is selling them something fraudulant or deceptive...

"Greed" is a term thats very subjective and normally thrown at businesses by jealous people who cant do it themselves.

"Competition" and "choice" means both are kept in check.

Well all i will add to this comment is
I bought some plastering tools shipped to my door from the U.S for $4,460 + 600 duties
And the same tools here in Australia at my local plastering store that i give thousands upon thousands of dollars to , Told me the best deal they could do
Was $15,670 .
I'm not saying there screwing me . I doubt it we have a good relationship but somewhere someone is doing some serious screwing .

[XWGT]

What I want to know is this. Why does everyone equate online shopping with the death of Australian jobs. And why dont most retailers understand they can move their business ONLINE and remove all of the evil property costs they keep talking about?

Some examples are (yes I know they hav e shop fronts but they are modest and teh net is the king for them)

http://www.kogan.com.au/
http://shop.1wow.com.au/productcart/pc/home.asp
http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/default.php

etc etc etc

The list is endless.

These stores still maintain warehouses, have distribution staff, IT staff, social media staff, procurement staff, not to mention the new line of work everyone keeps forgetting DELIVERY / TRANSPOPRT services which must be booming at the moment. So they still generate a fair level of activity locally.

My point is you DONT have to be based in Asia to have a successful online only business. The hard part for most established retailers is making the transition.

And here is another point

A recent survey revealed only 15% of people read past the first page of Google search results.

So if thats the case.......and the customer sees a product they are comfortuable with and the price is right online, shipping is free etc.........how many more online retailers do you think they check with????????????????

It aint the end of the world people. In fact its the start of a slightly different one.........

[MAD]

It's funny, whenever the online vs retail discussion occurs people assume China is involved. But most of the examples given here are the disparity between buying retail, face-to-face in Australia or buying retail online in the US from a seller that will ship to Australia.

[MAD]

Originally Posted by geckoGT

After reading this whole thread again, trying to work it out to see if it is actually going anywhere I have noted a few things.

Those that are obviously employees are mostly stating that their reason for shopping OS is their own personal bottom line, their pay only goes so far. That is fair enough, who can really blame them for that.

Those that are involved in retail seem to put the blame on two areas, the first and most apparent is the consumer, the consumer is murdering Australian retail. The second avenue of blame is the manufacturer and the disparity of the wholesale pricing between here and OS.

Now personally I think the likes of Gerry Harvey having a go at the consumers for killing retail and killing his bottom line is a bit rich, after all the consumer is just looking after their own bottom line. But the consumer does not have a bottom line as large as some of the big retailers.

Personally I think a key point is the disparity between wholesale prices here and OS. It seems to me that if Aussie retailers are paying 100% more than US retailers for the same product, it is the manufacturers that are killing Australian retail. Level that out and the prices will level out. We keep having this notion of a "global market" jammed down our necks but is it really, to me for that to be true it would have to be a level playing field across the globe. It seems it is not.

Perhaps the key players in the retail industry, retail associations and federal government should address that issue before they ear bash poor old Joe Average for trying to spread his bottom line a bit further.

Just a thought.

I think the blame is pointed more at wages, taxes and other regulatory costs.

I think it was crazy for Gerry to start the war with the aim to reduce/remove the GST free imports up to $1000. Instead of applying something to the masses that artificially makes you competitive, why dont we look at the real issues. All the red tape costs that cause prices to be marked up as they are, which causes wages to go up to pay for these marked up goods, and so on.

If regulatory costs were reduced, items could be offered at lower prices and Australians would have more disposable money.

I dont want it to go political, but I think that's where the real problem lies.
It makes no sense to me to introduce something that will cost businesses, that then requires something to be put in place that reduces the costs passed on to the customer, or introducing something that removes a level of competition from the consumer.

It would be like Casey Council making a law that stopped any residents of the Casey shire from being able to purchase anything from Costco.


Sorry for the slight rant, I'm having trouble getting my words together today, so if it seems a little fragmented, I'm sorry. But my point is in there somewhere.

[FgNewbie]

I think it was crazy for Gerry to start the war with the aim to reduce/remove the GST free imports up to $1000.

I thought it was crazy because the amount GST represents has little impact when price differences are far beyond that of GST.

[Gobes32]

PC Case Gear, Australia's no 1 computer shop, does not even have a shop, although I believe they allow pick ups from their warehouse.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Gobes32

PC Case Gear, Australia's no 1 computer shop, does not even have a shop, although I believe they allow pick ups from their warehouse.

Yep, excellent store, they used to do $10 shipping with no limit on items to anywhere in Victoria.

[aussie muscle]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

But what do you do when a US online retailer won't ship to Australia?

www.borderlinx.com

[Scooter79rs]

I've done a fair amount of buying from OS for one major reason, the availability in Aus is rare at best with some of the things I buy when I can get something from the USA in 1 week instead of waiting a couple of months for the same thing in Aus.
I recently bought a pair of Oakleys from Hollywood, CA it was USD$150 (I walked into the store) and I priced up the same glasses on the Australian online site it was AUD$280 before postage.

I do try and buy within Aus as much as I can, but when I simply can't find it in Aus or its just a lot more to buy I go online. But unfortunately most of the books and r/c parts I get are barely available in Aus.

[69XWGT]

Originally Posted by geckoGT

Personally I think a key point is the disparity between wholesale prices here and OS. It seems to me that if Aussie retailers are paying 100% more than US retailers for the same product, it is the manufacturers that are killing Australian retail. Level that out and the prices will level out. We keep having this notion of a "global market" jammed down our necks but is it really, to me for that to be true it would have to be a level playing field across the globe. It seems it is not.

Perhaps the key players in the retail industry, retail associations and federal government should address that issue before they ear bash poor old Joe Average for trying to spread his bottom line a bit further.

Just a thought.

And that my friends is where the problem lies.

I do work for a guy that used to own a Zuzuki outboard dealership in Lismore.
When i told him what i could buy an engine in the states for, he nearly choked.
He said he made roughly 2 grand on a twenty thousand dollar engine.
So that means that Haines Marine Group were charging him nearly double for the engine than what you could buy it for retail in the states

I've found exactly the same with mower parts.

It's about time those with their own retail business laid off belittling the consumers and started asking some serious questions about pricng from their wholesalers

[SB076]

Originally Posted by XWGT

What I want to know is this. Why does everyone equate online shopping with the death of Australian jobs. And why dont most retailers understand they can move their business ONLINE and remove all of the evil property costs they keep talking about?

Some examples are (yes I know they hav e shop fronts but they are modest and teh net is the king for them)

http://www.kogan.com.au/
http://shop.1wow.com.au/productcart/pc/home.asp
http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/default.php

etc etc etc

The list is endless.

These stores still maintain warehouses, have distribution staff, IT staff, social media staff, procurement staff, not to mention the new line of work everyone keeps forgetting DELIVERY / TRANSPOPRT services which must be booming at the moment. So they still generate a fair level of activity locally.

My point is you DONT have to be based in Asia to have a successful online only business. The hard part for most established retailers is making the transition.

And here is another point

A recent survey revealed only 15% of people read past the first page of Google search results.

So if thats the case.......and the customer sees a product they are comfortuable with and the price is right online, shipping is free etc.........how many more online retailers do you think they check with????????????????

It aint the end of the world people. In fact its the start of a slightly different one.........

Online shopping will reduce the number of retail jobs - if you compare two companies one a traditional retailer vs a online store, the traditional retailer will always employ more people.

Online store as you mentioned you have distribution staff, purchasing staff, retailer will have the same staff (retailers have warehouses etc to store goods prior to shipment to the retail store) But in addition to that the retail store employees sales, cleaners, shopfitters etc, then you have the transport costs between their warehouses and the actual retail stores. Therefore if traditional retail shops all shut up businesses and moved to online only there would be a large number of jobs lost.

Dont get me wrong I am not against online stores at all, but I am suggesting as we move to more online shopping retail jobs will be lost.

Regardling transport I think the biggest winner is Aussie post, they would have been concerned as we moved towards the electronic age (mail would have dropped off) But now they would be happy as they would see a large increase in the parcels they deliver. Strangely enough though I have seen probably about 6 tranposrt companies get liquidated in the past few months - go figure I guess.