Is the packaging worth enough for it to effect the value of your purchase?

[bowspearer]

I would not expect the assistant manager to know any different. There is a huge difference between the "invoice cost" & the actual cost paid by stores like Bing Lee.

Not quite true. I'd been there for about 5 years on and off at that point (I later discovered that at one point I was being groomed for a AM position myself) and so I tended to hear a few things, including the difference between Bing Lee's "floor cost" and actual invoice cost (and no I'm not going to spill as matter of principle), and it did come down to a percentage markup on the invoice costs.

Things like rebates only tend to come into play during promotions and if there was older floor stock which needed to be cleared by slashing the cost (which meant a rebate to reduce the invoice cost).

So sometimes it can in fact be very straightfowrard with that sort of thing.

Something that we don't have to deal with when purchasing online that all retailers have to deal with, is import duties, any shipment coming into the country that has a value over $1000 is subject to import duties, as well as broker charges, customs charges and all that adds up, sure there are economies of scale here too, but I have looked into it as a potential side income and decided that importing more than $1000 worth from the states or anywhere else, just isn't worth my time.

I agree with a lot of what has been said so far about retailer attitudes, and archaic practices, but import duties in australia are high to promote local primary industry over importing from other countries, the thing is, it just doesn't work for electrical items, toys and other goods with a similar manufacturing profile. there is a lot of cost there that is not in place in other countries.

I also feel though that Australian retail needs a shake up as people have been saying above.

Anyway, that's all a bit off topic, the picture I posted above was something I found at my local Kmart on the weekend, and I immediately thought of this discussion and thought I would share it.

I agree there are certain duties and overheads that bricks and mortar retailers face and certainly online retailers shouldn't be expected to pretend they don't.

However, and it's a pretty big however, bricks and mortar retail prices in the states have no shifted to much of an extent (I'm not aware of any increases, but I could be wrong) since 1997.

I bring that up because back then our dollar was around $0.77USD and with the same overheads that they have now, basics retailed at $10, deluxes at $17, megas at $30 and ultras at $40.

Admittedly, the Asian Economic Crisis sent our dollar tumbling like a lead ballon and prices went up accordingly, which is perfectly reasonable.

However the dollar is now doing much better, in fact for at least the past few months has been greater than parity with the USD and for a year before that was at its worst, at 1997 exchange rates. Yet prices have yet to get anywhere close to where they should be even at 1997 exchange rate leveles, with the exception of toy sales.

Yes retailers are in a difficult spot, but at the same time, they deserve very little sympathy, if any, when they're happily going along with the blatant scalping that is going on somewhere along the supply chain between them and Hasbro Australia.