Online buys prompt retail inquiry

[Sam]

So it looks like retailers are complaining because they aren't getting enough business:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/...etail-inquiry/

Well, if they decide to sell at fairer prices, perhaps this wouldn't happen as often. Plus many items are only available online.

[SkyWarp91]

I guess also with online shopping you don't have to deal with rude teenage workers that are so common in most shops these days...

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Nick Stace, CEO of consumer group Choice, said the review should also examine the high degree of concentration of ownership in the retail sector and the impact of the major chains' market power on consumers and smaller retailers.

Yep, thats for sure. Perhaps if the customer service levels improved, so instead of just paying more and getting crappy service, we are actually getting the service we pay for.

I heard the news on the radio, with the National Retailers association urging people to use shops instead of online, and I laughed. Of course they are going to say that, they are biased towards the shops themselves. I am sure if they could get away with it, they would urge us to pay higher than retail prices as well.

Australian shops need to lift their game, especially in the service side of things. I wouldn't mind paying the prices we pay if the service was good, but it isn't.

When I refer to service, I mean not only checkout service, but stock levels, staff levels and direct customer service as a whole. How many times have I gone into a shop for a sale item and it has sold out after the first day? Thats just bad service.

Phew. Rant over.

[SkyWarp91]

Yep, thats for sure. Perhaps if the customer service levels improved, so instead of just paying more and getting crappy service, we are actually getting the service we pay for.

I heard the news on the radio, with the National Retailers association urging people to use shops instead of online, and I laughed. Of course they are going to say that, they are biased towards the shops themselves. I am sure if they could get away with it, they would urge us to pay higher than retail prices as well.

Australian shops need to lift their game, especially in the service side of things. I wouldn't mind paying the prices we pay if the service was good, but it isn't.

When I refer to service, I mean not only checkout service, but stock levels, staff levels and direct customer service as a whole. How many times have I gone into a shop for a sale item and it has sold out after the first day? Thats just bad service.

Phew. Rant over.

My biggest problem with retail nowadays is that you have workers that don't do their job and muck around in groups playing around with each other and they get angry at you when you request for help AND then you have those workers that get in your face trying to sell you a product they know little or vaguely about and won't leave you alone when all you want to do is browse!

Granted, not all retail workers are bad. There are good workers too that are polite, informative and understand your concerns as a customer and treat you like a human being - those are the type of workers that I'm proud to have spent my money buying from them. And I feel sorry for these type of workers when they get abused by rude, irrational customers.

Although I hate it too when stores sellout everything on sale on the 1st day, I can understand that as well, it's meant to be a sale

One story about bad retail experience is when I went to two different game stores on the same day in the same mall. I was looking for DOOM3 at EB and the guy working there told me sorry but the game's been long gone and discontinued and wished me luck in finding it. Nice guy. I go to GAME and ask the same thing, but this oaf of a douche teenage kid blunty says 'no' and just stands there, he doesn't even say another word and looks at me awkwardly like he wants me to get out. I did get out, and I now know why GAME is the worst videogame store in Australia...

Phew. My rant over too!

[Sam]

I buy online depending on what I want to get. For example, video games are way overpriced in retail shops.

When I wanted to buy StarCraft 2, I asked EB Games to price match (they were selling it for $100) Dicksmith's price of $70.

The response was "We don't price match that game."
"Why not?"
"Because Dicksmith doesn't have any stock, and we're the only ones with stock, so we're not gonna pricematch."
"Fine then, you've lost yourself a customer. I'll just pre-order with Dicksmith and wait till they have more stock."
(In this case, because Dicksmith had a more decent price than online stores and I was willing to wait, I ended up going retail)

And like you guys have said, lack of service is another thing. Sometimes I need help locating an item in a store, only to find there's hardly any staff around. When one of two staff are around, they are already swamped by groups of customers asking them questions.

If retailers want people to use their stores more, they should make sure there's a good staff-to-customer ratio.

At other times it's the wait in the queue that takes longer than necessary. I understand it's a nice thing to make conversation with the customer as you're scanning the goods in, but not when the purchase is over and there's still 10+ people in the queue waiting. In Chinese there's a phrase for this kind of behaviour - "Stopping planet Earth's rotation."

/Rant off

[loophole]

IWhen I wanted to buy StarCraft 2, I asked EB Games to price match (they were selling it for $100) Dicksmith's price of $70.

The response was "We don't price match that game."

wow thats dodgy, my local EB pricematched Stracraft 2 with Dicksmiths price no worries

[SMHFConvoy]

I guess also with online shopping you don't have to deal with rude teenage workers that are so common in most shops these days...

Well, I think consumers can learn some manners too mate. With retail taking a real hit staffing levels are down and people seem to think that the customer service will remain the same.

Mind you I am not attacking your view I'm just using it to show the other side of the story...

[jaydisc]

Somebody dial 000. We're going to need a Waaaaaaaambulance.

Retailers should instead be complaining to their overseas distributors and suppliers (read: Hasbro) about having their prices adjusted to reflect the AUD.

[Sharky]

on behalf of Dirge

Retailers should instead be complaining to their overseas distributors and suppliers (read: Hasbro) about having their prices adjusted to reflect the AUD.

This is what the retailers are missing.

My own example:

I bought a pair of Air Max 90 sneakers on eBay from the $USA - $144 shipped. That's _with_ the reseller's markup & eBay fees along with postage.

Hype has them for $190. Last year (lower AUD), Air Max 90s were $180.

A 10% GST would take my purchase to ~$155 - Hype are still well out of the running.

Nike Australia somehow decided to increase local price as the AUD rises. Why the ***** aren't Hype (and others) pressing Nike? Sure, many multinationals (Hasbro included) don't need the Australian market, but their local employees need their jobs and if consumers here bypass them, they lose out. The retailers should be pointing this out & putting pressure on those working for the local arms of these companies.

Burn is correct that the revenue raised by a GST change would be paying wages at customs (or Australia Post - wherever it's levied) - there's a reason why this threshold exists. And raising it would do absolutely nothing for the retail sector, except maybe forcing Australia Post to hire more staff as the Post Offices get busier from parcel collections requiring GST payments.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Well, this is getting interesting isn't it?
Harvey "Stormin'" Norman's latest weigh-in - buying on-line overseas is 'unAustralian'.