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>It's almost as if Australian e-commerce sites depend on their customers not having heard of the internet.. That's exactly what it is. They pretend they don't
by brc 15y ago
>It's almost as if Australian e-commerce sites depend on their customers not having heard of the internet..
That's exactly what it is. They pretend they don't exist, or that somehow what you get is inferior.
Historically, it's because the Australian dollar was weaker (after the last minerals boom bust) and therefore imported goods were more expensive. The retailers built their business models on higher margins, and now are struggling to compete with the disruptive influence of international e-commerce.
I'm not expert on retail but I suspect the problem is with too many middlemen - importers, wholesalers, and the like.
But instead of trying to work out why/how to compete, they are starting to run to the government looking for intervention.
One of the few retail chains doing well is Supercheap, which has BCF and Goldcross bicycles (and probably some others). They seem to be able to be cost-competitive with international prices on many things and are still profitable.
To me, there is no reason why an Australian e-commerce site couldn't be more successful. ebay is wildly successful in Australia, so it's not like people are averse to purchasing online. It's more to do with woeful range and prices.
If Amazon ever decides to open up an Australian subsidiary with warehouses located in Australia they will wipe out entire retail chains. As it is, they're already knocking them about badly even with inflated international shipping and long lead times.
- jacques_chester 15y ago> If Amazon ever decides to open up an Australian subsidiary with warehouses located in Australia they will wipe out entire retail chains. Amazon, IIRC, refuse to do so because of the ban on parallel importation of books.
- jbarham 15y agoAnd we all know how well that worked out for Borders Australia. E-books obviously make import regulations of books irrelevant so I don't think Amazon would bother setting up a retail operation in Australia. But if Amazon Web Services set up shop down under, well now, that would be quite disruptive!
- jacques_chester 15y ago> E-books obviously make import regulations of books irrelevant so I don't think Amazon would bother setting up a retail operation in Australia. I have a Kindle for this exact reason. > But if Amazon Web Services set up shop down under, well now, that would be quite disruptive! I don't see why they would. In terms of global traffic, Australia is a minnow. But in terms of cost-per-bit, we're one of the most expensive locations in the world. It makes more sense for Amazon to sit offshore and send bits in, where they'll be paid for by the end user with an ISP account. About as close as you'll get is Singapore, I think.
- jbarham 15y agoI meant AWS opening up in Australia would create severe problems for a lot of local high-cost hosting providers. But Amazon may not bother as US west coast latency is often good enough. (Keep in mind that Australian ISPs might route traffic to Singapore via the US, so although it may be closer as the crow flies, it's not necessarily closer on the internet.)
- dam0 15y agoAWS in Aussie in 2012 apparently : http://www.zdnet.com.au/amazon-planning-aussie-datacentre-report-339318358.htm http://www.zdnet.com.au/amazon-planning-aussie-datacentre-re...
- jacques_chester 15y agoI would love to be wrong.
- jacques_chester 15y agoThere's a pipe to Singapore out of Darwin, I believe. One of the old OTC lines I'm guessing, so probably not very high bandwidth.
- nl 15y ago
- angusgr 15y agoThis is something that might change soon, given recommendations made last month by the Book Industry Strategy Group: http://beattiesbookblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/australian-book-sector-gives-up-import.html http://beattiesbookblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/australian-book...
- brc 15y agoYes, that's correct as far as I understand. But there's nothing to stop them selling all the other stuff they sell and wait for the inevitable change on books. A pile of it comes from China, anyway. They will end up being asked to come - because as it is, the local book industry is collapsing and there won't be anywhere to actually purchase books. The same thing happened with music - there was a push to stop parallel import of CDs which cost about $25 for an album. But iTunes rendered that argument completely meaningless anyway. I have one local bookstore left in my area but it appears to be existing on lots of big tables full of discounted merchandise sitting outside. The range is woeful and the prices are criminal. I doubt they'll be there in another 12 months.
- Nick_C 15y agoIf you want one number that tells why Australian retail is more expensive than U.S., it is retail rents. Aust. retail rents are (among?) the highest in the world, higher than London and New York. This is mainly due to poor short-sighted planning authorities in local councils which over-manage commercial planning. The result is that, except perhaps Melbourne, all large retail is in malls instead of spread among the suburbs. Almost all the malls are owned by one or two parties, Westfield being the major. As monopoly owner, they have squeezed retail rents for decades.