Why are parts so overpriced in Australia?

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Originally Posted by GEK064

I've heard the Dick Smith is making money and is profitable, but not enough for the woolies juggernaut...they only grew 3.5% last year. IMO the dick smith business model is not suitable to today's market so they were will not survive…another Aussie brand killed or deported.

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possibly true
but don't you think that someone would jump in and buy the stores that are for sale if they ARE profitable ? maybe now some stores still are profitable, but anyone can see that will not last for even the few that may be profitable.

this pretty much sums it up
a quote from smh
"Dick Smith is not losing money - yet. It made a $22 million profit last year and has 386 stores in Australia and New Zealand. Despite a refurbishment and rebranding of the business it is on the losing end of a battle with the internet and consumers. They don't offer anything that can't be bought relatively cheaper on the internet."
$22 mill prift sounds good, but then they go on to say
"That O'Brien booked a $300 million restructuring cost to Dick Smith to cover redundancies, off balance sheet leases, goodwill and inventory writedowns"
don't sound like its going in the right direction to me.

so be it, consumers will continue to buy online, but as i have said time and time again, it is at the expence of australian businesses and jobs, and that means the australian economy, and your job, and my job. time will tell.

i for one will be back here in 10 years time to look back and say i told you so :p

oh, forgot to say, they say that DS doesn't offer anything that you can't get online cheaper, well i disagree. you get to look at the product you are buying. and touch and feel it. ok if you are buying a memory card you don;t need that, but don;t tell me you are going to buy the latest flat screen tv without seeing what it looks like in person. that amongst other things is what we are going to lose.

quick example of whats happening

Harvey Norman have opened an online games ordering website.
you are guaranteed 25% less cost direct to your door than if you buy off the shelf at Harvey Norman store. yet i don't imagine Jerry Harvey would be sacrificing his margin on the direct sales. it is purely the fact that it is an offshore business that is set up in another country that is staffed by overseas people to sell direct. more jobs gone offshore. why? so you can get a cheaper price, bypassing the import duties etc.
it is sidestepping the australian censorship laws and probably other laws as well.

i refuse to buy off this site on principal alone, but i bet i am in a minority in caring about australias' future on that one as well.

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Originally Posted by Rosscoe68

quick example of whats happening

Harvey Norman have opened an online games ordering website.
you are guaranteed 25% less cost direct to your door than if you buy off the shelf at Harvey Norman store. yet i don't imagine Jerry Harvey would be sacrificing his margin on the direct sales. it is purely the fact that it is an offshore business that is set up in another country that is staffed by overseas people to sell direct. more jobs gone offshore. why? so you can get a cheaper price, bypassing the import duties etc.
it is sidestepping the australian censorship laws and probably other laws as well.

i refuse to buy off this site on principal alone, but i bet i am in a minority in caring about australias' future on that one as well.

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Funny you should bring up Gerry Harvey. He is the best example of what is wrong with the Australian retail industry. Sounds like a real nice guy too...

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Gerry Harvey's net worth is estimated at $870 million and is ranked at #13 of the richest people in Australia.[1]

In an interview in 2008 he described giving charity to the homeless as "a waste", and said that it was "helping a whole heap of no-hopers to survive for no good reason".[5]

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guys,

Buying offshore saves you big money you can invest in things useful for the Country and its future, like education, books, local tourism, locally produced (not imported) good and services, health... did I mentioned education ?

Buying parts locally supports a massive distribution chain (big fortunes and an army of not_very_well_paid_people), but there is little innovation, knowledge or future in that.

I prefer paying 100 AUD for my timing kit in UK and then 200 AUD to someone who teaches me how to install it, rather than paying 300 AUD to the local stealer who puts no added value in the sale.




BTW, I work in a multinational. There is a single price list around the world, no matter where you are. Old and demo stock (from all around the world stock) is offered for sale with very good discounts.

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Originally Posted by FFR

guys,

Buying offshore saves you big money you can invest in things useful for the Country and its future, like education, books, local tourism, locally produced (not imported) good and services, health... did I mentioned education ?

Buying parts locally supports a massive distribution chain (big fortunes and an army of not_very_well_paid_people), but there is little innovation, knowledge or future in that.

I prefer paying 100 AUD for my timing kit in UK and then 200 AUD to someone who teaches me how to install it, rather than paying 300 AUD to the local stealer who puts no added value in the sale.

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IF you do practice what you preach then you are probably the only one in Australia, much to the shame of the rest.
oh and as for education, an interesting listen on talkback yesterday. didn;t catch it all, but i believe the gist was they were interviewing Uni educated students and did something like offer around the world trip if they could quote from a textbook something they had actually learned. needless to say it was a failure.
but hey, we are digressing once again. ( is that even spelled correctly )

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Originally Posted by isuzurover

Funny you should bring up Gerry Harvey. He is the best example of what is wrong with the Australian retail industry. Sounds like a real nice guy too...

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never said he was a good guy, nor agree with that statement, just stating what is already happening to our country.
but i don't understand why 1 persons personal views on the homeless relates in anyway to "what is wrong with the Australian Retail Industry"

P.S. some of Darwins' theories do have a lot going for them.

i do believe we are breeding a welfare dependant society, which can't continue to exist if the government is broke.
so perhaps there is something good to come out of this direct importing and bypassing GST and customs duty income to the govt.

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Originally Posted by Rosscoe68

never said he was a good guy, nor agree with that statement, just stating what is already happening to our country.
but i don't understand why 1 persons personal views on the homeless relates in anyway to "what is wrong with the Australian Retail Industry"

P.S. some of Darwins' theories do have a lot going for them.

i do believe we are breeding a welfare dependant society, which can't continue to exist if the government is broke.
so perhaps there is something good to come out of this direct importing and bypassing GST and customs duty income to the govt.

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The government have said it will COST them money to charge GST and duty on goods <$1000. (or whatever the value is now).

Gerry harvey's shops are miles more expensive than small computer and television stores, and even big ones like retravision, the good guys and JB Hi-Fi. He has clearly demonstrated that he is just in it to make as much money as he can. I would bet he cares much less about Australia and the Australian economy thanthe average internet shopper.

What is happening in AU is not unique. When I worked in Germany I needed to buy some laboratory balances for work. The local dealer wouldn't budge on price, so I ordered from the US, despite having to pay 20% GST, PLUS import duty, and fill out a bunch of forms (in German of course). I still saved about 50%, which was spent on wages for locals who worked for me. I think that was a far better option than making people like Gerry Harvey rich.

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Originally Posted by isuzurover

The government have said it will COST them money to charge GST and duty on goods <$1000. (or whatever the value is now).

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that's a poliitically motivated statement.
yes it will probly cost them, not money but their position in governement if they had the foresight and balls to actually legislate against this problem. so i can see why they are putting out statements like that.
p.s. since when did we start believing anything this government tells us ?

pretty obvious if you do some sums that if more people import directly then that's less gst for the government, not real hard to add that one up.

anyhow, i seem to be the only one that is voiceing objection to this problem of direct imports so maybe its just me having some strange ideal that is not realistic.

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Originally Posted by Rosscoe68

that's a poliitically motivated statement.
yes it will probly cost them, not money but their position in governement if they had the foresight and balls to actually legislate against this problem. so i can see why they are putting out statements like that.
p.s. since when did we start believing anything this government tells us ?

pretty obvious if you do some sums that if more people import directly then that's less gst for the government, not real hard to add that one up.

anyhow, i seem to be the only one that is voiceing objection to this problem of direct imports so maybe its just me having some strange ideal that is not realistic.

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I think you are correctly foreseeing what will happen to the retail industry that sell stuff they have sourced overseas.

from your previous post

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Originally Posted by Rosscoe68

P.S. some of Darwins' theories do have a lot going for them.

i do believe we are breeding a welfare dependant society, which can't continue to exist if the government is broke.

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I think that the above also applies to businesses.

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Originally Posted by slug_burner

I think you are correctly foreseeing what will happen to the retail industry that sell stuff they have sourced overseas.

from your previous post

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Originally Posted by Rosscoe68

P.S. some of Darwins' theories do have a lot going for them.


i do believe we are breeding a welfare dependant society, which can't continue to exist if the government is broke.

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I think that the above also applies to businesses.

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if that is the case then actually i think the above also applies to australia if you want to extrapolate it :)

thats pretty much what i have been saying since the start,
business will fail
jobs gone,
govt broke

welcome china