Retail land...

has been slow after the new year.

Had a 3-hour shift early this week and got called for a 5-hour shift tomorrow.

Speaking of retail land, Myer, Harvery Norman and the Greens have banded together to urge the government to impose GST on all imports. The two retailers have been calling for this measure before Christmas when the strong Aussie dollar made online shopping in other countries (i.e. USA) cheaper. Bernie Brooks claimed that should the trend continue, part-time and casual workers would suffer as retailers would have to cut hours.

Now I work for a big retailer but I think the reasoning is a bit off. Retailers should have already anticipated this move by consumers. Consumers are a savvy lot. They can a smell a bargain a mile away and they know how to use the most out of their money / credit cards. Why else would sites like Scoupon, Groupon and all those other coupon based companies proliferate? With internet sites like net-a-porter, bluefly, yoox, Luisa Via Roma offering products online and even delivering to Australia, consumers are given the opportunity to buy things they wouldn't normally buy in Australia.

While being nationalistic and supporting Australian made products shouldn't be pooh-poohed, the government had made it difficult for Australian made products to compete with relatively cheap imports. I say relative as you get a good, quality made product, same as it would have been made in Australia, but relatively cheaper in price even if you factor in the shipping. Most people I've spoken to during my work placement days and even news articles have lamented that the artisans in Australia were not supported enough. A lot of the talents by the Italian and Greek tailors and dressmakers were not passed on to the younger generation or if they were, the financial support wasn't there. When overseas manufacturing became the norm, a lot of the factories here closed down as they couldn't compete with the cheap prices of overseas manufacturing.

France and Paris are still the forerunners in quality made products but even some of their companies have taken to manufacturing overseas. That's how things work. You either adapt or you lose.

In the case of the retail giants here, they should've seen how online shopping have now become a part of the shopping habits of consumers. It's a bit strange that Myer and David Jones don't even have online shopping in their web sites. And while taxing people who shop online seems like a desperate move, it's more the big retailers fault for sitting on their laurels. Yes, Australia is far, far away from most shopping destinations but that doesn't give a lot of the retailers the right to charge so much for the products they're selling.

It is unfair to compare online shoppers with that of retail giants' importation of products. Retailers buy in bulk which is how they get a relatively cheap price per product. Add the GST and other customs taxes and they still can mark up their prices so high as to make profit. Then they pass on that GST to the consumer to pay. Online shoppers buy a product individually and don't get a discount unless it's on sale. They pay the cost of the good and for the shipping. They don't make a profit out of their shopping unlike retailers.

And on the issue of staff losing hours, shouldn't that be a challenge on the part of the retailer? Don't employ too many people if you're not going to be cutting back hours in the long run. Make your employees happy by giving them decent hours, acknowledge their work and take care of them. Happy workers make shopping a happy experience.