My On-line Experience

Pappy buys everything online and mostly comes from overseas.

 

I was thinking about this very thing the other day when I had recourse to go back to the store I bought a new lounge from.

I HAD been thinking that ALL stores would disappear under your "tsunami" analogy but the truth is that only an idiot would buy something as personal as a lounge from overseas.

First there is the feel, you don't get that over the internet (you have to have a local source of the product to know if it's the ONE you want)

Second is the delivery, how much lead time are you willing to wait ?

For the specific lounge I wanted the lead time was 6-8 weeks, and then you have the issue of the product getting damaged in transit (this happened to me for local delivery).

How do you address this situation without much drama and stress when trying to get the product replaced (mine was replace 2 days later) when dealing with overseas purchases ??

Sure, buying the cheap stuff over the net is fine but for the quality products people will always want the security of dealing with locals if for no other reason than there is some chance of redress from a store bought product.

There are millions of horror stories out there where people have tried to get redress via phone and email only to be ignored via both methods until you give up ..... hence the scammers.

 

I agree that online is an excellent time saving way of purchasing but as you have said you bought from reputable stores that have had a history and a reputation built over many years and they also have a street/shopfront presence and I think that this is the main issue.
Sure people will buy on line but also people like to see , experience, touch, smell and taste which can not be done on line. I would never buy a suit or a pair of jeans on line. In many cases people want instant supply eg hardware, when I need something I want to get it there and then I do not want to wait for it.
For gift items sure they are perhaps pre planned as many other items are.
The point I am trying to make is that retail will always have a need for a street front but they also have a need to adjust and follow market trends. The likes of Myers and D J,s now have on line applications and the way they do business now is totally different to how they did business 2 years ago. I saw an article saying that they are setting up Botox stalls so you can go shopping and book in for a Botox jab at the same time or a massage. They are making the process of shopping an all encompassing experience.
We all need to adjust to the internet way of life and use the internet as a tool in business.

 

Jon you are correct; but there are 2 factors working in favour of the internet purchase at the moment which may not be around forever. The first is the strength of the Australian dollar at 1.07 US yesterday, close to all time highs. The long term average is circa 0.83 I believe.
The second is the crazy tax free $1000 limit. The poor retailer is 10-15% behind the game immediately.
As sales move online the Governments tax revenues steadily decrease and they will eventually wake up and plug the leak. Throw in a weaker currency down the track and the online purchase is less attractive, especially when you add freight and delivery delays.
As Morreti pointed out, it doesn't suite all items or all purchases. I would never buy clothing for example; but a book is a known quantity from anywhere. My wife buys clothes online and every time she buys me something it is unsuitble and a total waste of money.

It is a major game change though, no doubt about it.

I buy a lot of stuff online, most transactactions are fine; but I have been ripped off badly twice despite an accute awareness of fraud. There is no meaningful recourse at the end of the day either.

 

If the price difference is ever actually that much, I actually go and buy things in stores to get them immediately, but most of the time, it simply isn't.

Recently I bought 25 sets of guitar strings

This I will break down. 20 sets for my electric guitars. A single set in Australia lists for around $13. 5 sets for my acoustic where a single set lists for $28.

So all up if I had have bought from a a store here would have been $400ish (music stores admittedly discount pretty well when you are in store, so I probably would have got out for around $350).

Buying from the US, I got the 20 electric sets for $70 ALL UP and the 5 sets for the acoustic for $70 as well.

The difference still doesn't come down to just GST and duties, it comes down to the pricing from distributors and the brands themselves knowing that in the past what we would pay.

My point, international brands have been screwing Australia for a long time (both consumers and the retailers, because they are charging them more as well), and with the world being a heck of a lot smaller now, we're starting to realise.

 

I am extremely interested in seeing that Jon. My business life has been essentially in the retail environment, so upcoming IT developments are of great interest to me.

Retail is getting absolutely hammered ATM, no doubt about it.
The problem is more complicated than simplistic discussions here. The ramifications go well beyond the demise of bricks and mortar shopping. I have a friend who does a lot of commercial property investing. He stopped buying retail property at least 6 years ago for the reasons under discussion.

 

That is amazing value!! I will investigate buying in bulk myself.

How many guitars do you have?

 

I bought some slim fit Lewin's recently (4 for $160). In spite of adhering to the same sizing that I use to purchase shirts here, the shirts were far too big for for me (albeit, I am quite slim). I sent them back over a forthnight ago (which cost $40), still waiting for a refund though.

 

3 electrics (Fender Strat, Jackson Randy Rhoads, BC Rich strat shape)

My Maton EBG808CL

And my banjo

Only issue is, and this goes back to my complaints about the international companies screwing with Australia, it's hard to find places that actually ship to Australia for the products I wanted as the company (D'Addario) don't let US retailers ship to Australia. Easy enough to get around when I just had a friend purchase them and ship them to me.

 

Couldn't you work out from the oversized shirts what the appropriate sizes would be and exchange it for those?

It would be a shame to send them back all together and not take advantage of the savings. Even with a $40 shipping fee, you would still be on top.

I bought a single Lewin shirt to experiment with the size before ordering 4. I figured while I'm not saving as much buying a single shirt ($48 as opposed to $36 each when buying 4), I'm still saving money given that they have been reduced from $136. It also prevents me from getting the wrong size on all 4.

 

My friend owns some retail shop space down south. Grosses $160K pa and he sweats every lease renewal (each year he said) hoping he finds someone to keep renting.

I think he dropped it to $160K from $180K last year because no one was in there.

I have NEVER had any issues with finding good tennants for any of my residential properties.

 

Very nice, I love those Jackson RR guitars!

I bought 3x sets of D'Addario strings a few months ago off Ebay for $15 delivered from the US. Took around 2 weeks to get them, I wasnt in a hurry for them. Have plenty of guitars to play.

Seeing as I have too many guitars now, I think I will invest in 70 packets of strings off Ebay.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/75-Sets-DAddario-Electric-Strings-EXL110-exl-110-/260591818127?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item3cac7b958f

Works out to $3.50 a pack of strings. Crazy cheap prices.

 

With AUD/USD disparity being what it is - Have field day/year/decade. Seriously.

Since we're on-topic . . .

Request: Tell us about your banjo on a new thread. I'm interested in the qualities experienced on it that aren't obtained with other stringers.

 

I don't get why the 'traditional' retailers don't just set up their own off-shore sites? Since everything they sell is made overseas anyway, it'd save all the doubling handling. Win-win.

In a similar vein, I've been thinking a lot lately about what's being termed the 'post-industrial' era which I where we're at I believe, and Donald Tsang (Hong Kong chief minister) when visiting here last week commented that HK no longer manufactures much but has accepted that and repositioned itself accordingly.

 

explain Singapore to me ?

No natural resources, no electricity, no water, circa 40 kms long and more exotic than you see in most countries

It's a traditional shopping centre, so from what you're saying they are doomed (excellent in my books, I hate shopping)

 

I wouldn't say nothing will happen. Retailers will make less revenue, pay less tax as a result leading to the government making less money. Sort of what 360C was getting at earlier.

Government will inevitably step in and raise taxes on imports IMO.

 

I try and do my little bit for Julia...I recycle all the plain brown packaging I get from my on-line purchases

 

They lowered the import limit from $1500 to $1000 only a short time ago. I bought a guitar from the UK October last year and the limit was $1500.

The ones I bought this year the limit was $1000. So may have been earlier this year they changed it.

I dont know what it was many years ago. If it keeps going the way it's going, perhaps the gov will lower it to $500 or abolish it and we pay full tax on it.