Intelligent businesses are all online in a big way and use multi-channels and excellent customer service to get people to be loyal to them.

Nordstroms are an example. They use there bricks and mortar stores as warehouses and despatch services for their online delivery. There is no difference in price fro either channel. If you buy from their online store and want to change it, just go into any physical store and do so.

Myers, DJs, Harvey Norman etc are in their death throes by any measure and unless they change and try to understand what their customer wants, will be dead in a decade.

Takeover by a grocers is about the only chance that Myers has

JC said :

But getting back to retail and who is screwing who? Well if I can import something from the UK for $200, 20% UK VAT and delivery (within one week) included, but the bricks and mortar shop in Canberra wants to charge me $400 for the same thing, then I am being screwed.

Even if GST were added here I am still $180 better off. And and in the example I gave the shop in the UK is also a bricks and mortar shop too, not some faceless warehouse like Amazon.

Now if the local shop charged a reasonable price, even say $300 (considering the higher cost of wages here) I would be tempted to buy local, but not when it is $200 cheaper OS.

You’re ignoring the fact the the GBP exchange rate collapsed during the GFC and has never recovered to historical levels. If it ever goes back to 2.5 (or even 3) to 1 nothing from the UK will seem cheap.. Also, UK VAT isn’t charged on exports from the UK to coutries outside of Europe. As someone living in Canberra you will already understand that the costs of living and employing staff are significantly higher here too.

+1 for JC’s comments – I would love to shop locally but the retailers are hardly inspiring. Westfield are not particularly good landlords and the retailers seem to find the whole issue of having customers a huge inconvenience. Example; wanted to order a book through Dymocks and they said to allow approximately 6 weeks for it to come from another store in WA. 6 weeks?! Or…..I could go online to amazon UK, order it for a fraction of the cost, even taking P&P into account, and be reading it within a fortnight. I am happy to spend my money here but please don’t ask me to accept poor service, poor choice and exaggerated pricing and cover it up with ‘the government did it, miss’….

JC said :

dungfungus said :

GST is applied to imports when an importer is a distributor. This means that the distributor, who imports a container load of a certain item to retailin Australia, has to pay an extra 10% per item whereas if you or I buy it direct offshore from the same offshore supplier and it is under $1,000 we don’t.
Yeah, that’s “tuff” luck. Who is screwing who exactly?

If it is under $1000, that is the key. Under that amount the cost of charging far outweighs the cost collecting, especially in a Liebral world of small government, that you so love.

Besides you haven’t answered the question if it is such an issue then why has Abbott not done something? Or indeed it was the Liberals that introduced the GST yet left this out. Yet you blame Labor.

But getting back to retail and who is screwing who? Well if I can import something from the UK for $200, 20% UK VAT and delivery (within one week) included, but the bricks and mortar shop in Canberra wants to charge me $400 for the same thing, then I am being screwed.

Even if GST were added here I am still $180 better off. And and in the example I gave the shop in the UK is also a bricks and mortar shop too, not some faceless warehouse like Amazon.

Now if the local shop charged a reasonable price, even say $300 (considering the higher cost of wages here) I would be tempted to buy local, but not when it is $200 cheaper OS.

Oh you have also failed to address my issue about why retail here has been so slow to adapt to on-line shopping and why it is still so poor. Yet you expect the government to somehow protect these business?

Tell me all about the “cost of collecting”.
This was just a general statement by Labor so they didn’t upset the voters. It would actually cost the taxpayer nothing because all costs would be recovered as part of the process. What you are saying is that if those costs added to your on-line purchase it would not be competitive for “you”.
I think you are wrong about VAT (or you are being ripped off) because VAT (like GST) isn’t charged when the goods are being “exported”.
Retail in Australia has been blitzed by on-line shopping They have billions invested in bricks and mortar and long term leases. It takes years to change direction and some will simply be unable to do so.
As long as people like you are happy to see Canberra’s shopping precincts turn into retail wastelands like in Detroit, who cares?
Have you checked to see where you superannuation is invested?

dungfungus said :

GST is applied to imports when an importer is a distributor. This means that the distributor, who imports a container load of a certain item to retailin Australia, has to pay an extra 10% per item whereas if you or I buy it direct offshore from the same offshore supplier and it is under $1,000 we don’t.
Yeah, that’s “tuff” luck. Who is screwing who exactly?

If it is under $1000, that is the key. Under that amount the cost of charging far outweighs the cost collecting, especially in a Liebral world of small government, that you so love.

Besides you haven’t answered the question if it is such an issue then why has Abbott not done something? Or indeed it was the Liberals that introduced the GST yet left this out. Yet you blame Labor.

But getting back to retail and who is screwing who? Well if I can import something from the UK for $200, 20% UK VAT and delivery (within one week) included, but the bricks and mortar shop in Canberra wants to charge me $400 for the same thing, then I am being screwed.

Even if GST were added here I am still $180 better off. And and in the example I gave the shop in the UK is also a bricks and mortar shop too, not some faceless warehouse like Amazon.

Now if the local shop charged a reasonable price, even say $300 (considering the higher cost of wages here) I would be tempted to buy local, but not when it is $200 cheaper OS.

Oh you have also failed to address my issue about why retail here has been so slow to adapt to on-line shopping and why it is still so poor. Yet you expect the government to somehow protect these business?

They already have two stores in Canberra, including Canberra Centre just up the road. Why would they want to put a store in Woden in the current climate?

MERC600 said :

Well dammit ,, they sell good desert boots.

Bad news indeed for the booners of Weston Creek.

JC said :

dungfungus said :

It appears Myer are also about to withdraw from rebuilding a new store in Hobart following the fire that destroyed the previous store 12 months ago.
Retailing in Australia is going through a difficult phase following the failure of the previous government imposing GST on all online shopping and the entry of offshore fashion retailers.
Also, the expansion of established offshore entities like Aldi and Ikea, the latter two being promoted especially in Canberra by the former Stanhope Labor government and the current Gallagher Labor minority government.
Still no noises from the Retail Employees Union.

What a load of cr#p. Whilst on-line retail is taking away business, what have Australian business done to counter this? Nothing except whinge that GST isn’t applied to imports.

Those that have an on-line presence have been very late in coming to the party and what they offer is still very poor in range and over priced. No wonder people look overseas.

I lived in the UK during the on-line boom and companies over there embraced it rather than ignored it. Whilst the big players like thier version of Myer/Harvey Norman etc have closed stores, they all survived and have not seen their business taken away. All the major department stores have looked to ways to keep customers rather than relying on government to make it hard for them to go elsewhere. Some examples include an expanded product range (most of which is online only) and they also introduced click and collect at store (any in Aus offer this yet) and of course they offer good prices on delivery.

As for the rest of your rant, so typical of your anti Labor stance, blame them for everything.

Oh Abbott hasn’t been in power for a year now, if the GST on imports was such an issue why hasn’t he introduced it? Reason is simple actually, it would make stuff all difference and cost more to administer than it would re-coup. Besides it is not the roll out government to protect business so they can bend us over and screw us. That is what the likes of Mr Harvey want’s.

What they need is some competition to liven them up. If they cannot survive tuff luck, over time businesses have come and gone and evolved to today’s modern expectations. Time for Australian business to evolve rather than whinge.

GST is applied to imports when an importer is a distributor. This means that the distributor, who imports a container load of a certain item to retailin Australia, has to pay an extra 10% per item whereas if you or I buy it direct offshore from the same offshore supplier and it is under $1,000 we don’t.
Yeah, that’s “tuff” luck. Who is screwing who exactly?

JC said :

dungfungus said :

It appears Myer are also about to withdraw from rebuilding a new store in Hobart following the fire that destroyed the previous store 12 months ago.
Retailing in Australia is going through a difficult phase following the failure of the previous government imposing GST on all online shopping and the entry of offshore fashion retailers.
Also, the expansion of established offshore entities like Aldi and Ikea, the latter two being promoted especially in Canberra by the former Stanhope Labor government and the current Gallagher Labor minority government.
Still no noises from the Retail Employees Union.

What a load of cr#p. Whilst on-line retail is taking away business, what have Australian business done to counter this? Nothing except whinge that GST isn’t applied to imports.

Those that have an on-line presence have been very late in coming to the party and what they offer is still very poor in range and over priced. No wonder people look overseas.

I lived in the UK during the on-line boom and companies over there embraced it rather than ignored it. Whilst the big players like thier version of Myer/Harvey Norman etc have closed stores, they all survived and have not seen their business taken away. All the major department stores have looked to ways to keep customers rather than relying on government to make it hard for them to go elsewhere. Some examples include an expanded product range (most of which is online only) and they also introduced click and collect at store (any in Aus offer this yet) and of course they offer good prices on delivery.

As for the rest of your rant, so typical of your anti Labor stance, blame them for everything.

Oh Abbott hasn’t been in power for a year now, if the GST on imports was such an issue why hasn’t he introduced it? Reason is simple actually, it would make stuff all difference and cost more to administer than it would re-coup. Besides it is not the roll out government to protect business so they can bend us over and screw us. That is what the likes of Mr Harvey want’s.

What they need is some competition to liven them up. If they cannot survive tuff luck, over time businesses have come and gone and evolved to today’s modern expectations. Time for Australian business to evolve rather than whinge.

And what successful business sector are you in JC?

dungfungus said :

It appears Myer are also about to withdraw from rebuilding a new store in Hobart following the fire that destroyed the previous store 12 months ago.
Retailing in Australia is going through a difficult phase following the failure of the previous government imposing GST on all online shopping and the entry of offshore fashion retailers.
Also, the expansion of established offshore entities like Aldi and Ikea, the latter two being promoted especially in Canberra by the former Stanhope Labor government and the current Gallagher Labor minority government.
Still no noises from the Retail Employees Union.

What a load of cr#p. Whilst on-line retail is taking away business, what have Australian business done to counter this? Nothing except whinge that GST isn’t applied to imports.

Those that have an on-line presence have been very late in coming to the party and what they offer is still very poor in range and over priced. No wonder people look overseas.

I lived in the UK during the on-line boom and companies over there embraced it rather than ignored it. Whilst the big players like thier version of Myer/Harvey Norman etc have closed stores, they all survived and have not seen their business taken away. All the major department stores have looked to ways to keep customers rather than relying on government to make it hard for them to go elsewhere. Some examples include an expanded product range (most of which is online only) and they also introduced click and collect at store (any in Aus offer this yet) and of course they offer good prices on delivery.

As for the rest of your rant, so typical of your anti Labor stance, blame them for everything.

Oh Abbott hasn’t been in power for a year now, if the GST on imports was such an issue why hasn’t he introduced it? Reason is simple actually, it would make stuff all difference and cost more to administer than it would re-coup. Besides it is not the roll out government to protect business so they can bend us over and screw us. That is what the likes of Mr Harvey want’s.

What they need is some competition to liven them up. If they cannot survive tuff luck, over time businesses have come and gone and evolved to today’s modern expectations. Time for Australian business to evolve rather than whinge.

MERC600 said :

Well dammit ,, they sell good desert boots.

When department stores start to sell any boot or shoe in sizes greater than Men’s 12, I’ll start shopping at them again.

It appears Myer are also about to withdraw from rebuilding a new store in Hobart following the fire that destroyed the previous store 12 months ago.
Retailing in Australia is going through a difficult phase following the failure of the previous government imposing GST on all online shopping and the entry of offshore fashion retailers.
Also, the expansion of established offshore entities like Aldi and Ikea, the latter two being promoted especially in Canberra by the former Stanhope Labor government and the current Gallagher Labor minority government.
Still no noises from the Retail Employees Union.

What does this mean for the redevelopment?
Wonder if target are also pulling out?

Well dammit ,, they sell good desert boots.

oh no, what a shame.

anyone know what will happen to site of the Alexander and Albemarle Buildings once they are demolished?