Article on price gouging in local retail vs. Grey Imports etc

[rellik666]

On the ole shopping centres, I think we have found out one of the "middle men" that is gaining all our dollars. Recently I read that the US was moving away from the shooping mall, for those exact reasons. With the economy in serious decline, shop owners could nto afford the rents and are moving back to the shopping strips that they used to inhabit. From what I have read about the costs involved in being in a Westfield shopping centre I am not surprised at the turnover of shops. But for a lot of retailers, the big chains, it is a case of you need to be there. I have noticed that JB HiFi have been moving to larger premises in industrial areas rather than the shopping centres....

If you think of the rent then think of the restrictive hours you must be open to be there and the fixed costs of services...it can soon add up....

Saying that though....I am not about to line the pockets of Westfield and the like, if I can help it. Retailers need to realise that if they provide service and a competative price we will come....

[kiwi]

anyone considering the reality of a high cost base here compared to say the USA ?

Labour costs
Compliance costs
Tax costs
Property costs

etc

?

[Scotty72]

Well,

If the monstrosities such as Westfield's Parramatta start to fail and close... good riddance.
For decades, they have sucked the life out of local communities and have done deals with local governments to enclose what was previously public space. So, of course when lazy Australians reject town centres in favour of 5,000 car park mega-malls; when you see virtual ghettos forming outside of these malls (Parramatta) - of course the malls will charge huge rents - because we queue up to jam into the mega-malls.

As for the Coles-Worths duopoly, Australians have themselves only to blame for this (same for the Westfields-isation of town centres). Every time an Australian gets sucked in to the false saving of the 4c petrol 'discount', their short-sightedness is ultimately an act of self harm. I refuse to use them - nor would I ever get close to the $30 spend at Coles-Woolworths to even qualify for the so called discount (as we only get odds and ends there).

By buying food (esp fresh) at the local markets / shops, you can often save a bit of money - or if you do pay more, you end up with far better quality food than the slops they try to sell you at the majors. Try this challenge - eat a few real apples from your local fruit shop / market then, go eat a Coles-Worths apple, then see if you can keep it down.

My point is, like so many other areas... Australians are very good at going down the path of self destruction, then complaining when the govt doesn't do 'something' about it, we complain even louder when the govt does do 'something' - and will scream the house down if the solution that we all demanded (to fix the prob we created) requires even $1 more in tax.

Finally, if any retailer puts up a sign '$50 try on fee', may I suggest they place a 'closing down sale' sign next to it.

Scotty

[Boo53]

Leaving aside the arguements about local employment cost being higher, and the higher middleman margins, try buying Photoshop CS5 from Adobe online. Its US$695 on the US site but if you click buy you get transfered to Adobes Australia site & the price is around AU$1300, and that was a couple of months ago when our dollar was US$1.10. The software downloads from the same server.

[Scotty72]

Leaving aside the arguements about local employment cost being higher, and the higher middleman margins, try buying Photoshop CS5 from Adobe online. Its US$695 on the US site but if you click buy you get transfered to Adobes Australia site & the price is around AU$1300, and that was a couple of months ago when our dollar was US$1.10. The software downloads from the same server.

I guess the electrons to carry the data across the Pacific are damned expensive.

[Boo53]

I guess so Scotty. BUT it is across the adobe range.

I wanted pse9 to put on a new laptop for when we are in the caravan.

US$75 for download on the US site, AU$145 for us. US$75 from amazon in a box but wouldn't ship to oz. Got a damaged box version from Amazon for US$60, sent free to a reshipper who charged US$20 to send it on. Our Dollar was US$1.08 at the time

[OzzieTraveller]

G'day all

Back in the 90s I was importing computer software packages from the US
Upon arrival, Aussie Customs then placed a +20% "equalisation tariff" onto the US price paid, -then- put an aussie sales-tax of +15% on top of the previous total

The final buy-in price was within 10% of the aussie retailer's prices that I was trying to beat ... and it occurred to me that their supposedly high selling price was the same as mine with their margins on top

ie- nothing was saved, nothing was achieved, I stopped doing what seemed like a good idea at the time
Regards, Phil