Amazon purchases and new GST Rules

[Beardy]

There seems to be a lot of negative vibe towards Gerry Harvey.
Not sure why, he started with nothing and has worked bloody hard to get to where he is today, this country need more of him. He is a humble man and has helped many a small business get on its feet.
Another thing is that Gerry does not run the retail outlets, they are all franchised of which he gets a margin and rent for their section of his premises. When you go into one of his stores you are dealing with several different small business operators, each section is a different small business.

[aldav]

Yep franchising, another business model that leads to higher prices and often doesn't lead to a good outcome for the franchisee, who incidentally has also worked bloody hard and put a lot of money on the line. Good luck to Gerry Harvey, he's worked hard and smart and made a lot of money. That doesn't mean I have to like the way he's done it any more than I like Wesfarmers or Woolworths. If you're relying on companies like that to do the right thing by you you're highly likely to be disappointed.

[FenceFurniture]

There seems to be a lot of negative vibe towards Gerry Harvey. Not sure why,

Dead simple really, he is a bloody whining whinger. I had a brief chat with him in a store once about 20 years ago, and even then he had a negativity in his conversational tone (and I was complimenting him on something he had done).

has helped many a small business get on its feet.

Maybe, but not as many as he sent to the wall.

Add to that this current situation, and there are a whole bunch of people who have good reason to think -vely of him. After all, he may not have been the only one gunning for these changes, but he was most certainly the highest profile and leading from the front.

Can someone, anyone, tell me how this is a good move for the consumer - how it benefits the consumer even in the most minute way? That is to say - who is out there hankering to pay more, much more, for the same items, AND from a vastly reduced range.

[Fuzzie]

Really the gripes here mainly seem to be about the reduction in choice and access to things that aren't readily available locally (readily available including being at a reasonable markup), paying an extra 10% isn't the issue.

What is the point of imposing a 10% gst if that means you can't actually buy the product anymore? Who is benefiting then?

[Beardy]

Dead simple really, he is a bloody whining whinger. I had a brief chat with him in a store once about 20 years ago, and even then he had a negativity in his conversational tone (and I was complimenting him on something he had done).
Maybe, but not as many as he sent to the wall.

Add to that this current situation, and there are a whole bunch of people who have good reason to think -vely of him. After all, he may not have been the only one gunning for these changes, but he was most certainly the highest profile and leading from the front.

Can someone, anyone, tell me how this is a good move for the consumer - how it benefits the consumer even in the most minute way? That is to say - who is out there hankering to pay more, much more, for the same items, AND from a vastly reduced range.

Mate it is dead simple, we are talking about an Aussie running an Aussie business that employs Aussies.......thousands of them. Tell me how buying from Amazon does anything good for the country apart from giving the mailman a job. Yes the individual consumer buying from a different economy benefits but at a cost to the Australian economy
Dont get me wrong, I like to get things cheap too and buy online for a saving as well but I don’t begrudge the Aussie retailer trying to make fair living.

This whole drive to add GST to O/S purchases is not about reducing choice in specialised fields like members here are on about, it is about the much broader retail industry that is losing a lot of business to online O/ S purchases.
Whilst everyone likes the prices they get O/S, I bet you would not be so keen on being paid the wages they receive ( or don’t receive) or their pensions, social security or their medical cover

[aldav]

This whole drive to add GST to O/S purchases is not about reducing choice in specialised fields like members here are on about

Yeah, but that's the result and you can't expect people to be happy about it.

[q9]

Mate it is dead simple, we are talking about an Aussie running an Aussie business that employs Aussies.......thousands of them. Tell me how buying from Amazon does anything good for the country apart from giving the mailman a job. Yes the individual consumer buying from a different economy benefits but at a cost to the Australian economy
Dont get me wrong, I like to get things cheap too and buy online for a saving as well but I don’t begrudge the Aussie retailer trying to make fair living.

This whole drive to add GST to O/S purchases is not about reducing choice in specialised fields like members here are on about, it is about the much broader retail industry that is losing a lot of business to online O/ S purchases.
Whilst everyone likes the prices they get O/S, I bet you would not be so keen on being paid the wages they receive ( or don’t receive) or their pensions, social security or their medical cover

Yes but the HN model of business is no longer relevant. The world has moved on, and there is no use pining for the days of old.

The fact they didn't make the web work for them will be a case study in the business books of the future.

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[Beardy]

Yep franchising, another business model that leads to higher prices and often doesn't lead to a good outcome for the franchisee, who incidentally has also work bloody hard and put a lot of money on the line. Good luck to Gerry Harvey, he's worked hard and smart and made a lot of money. That doesn't mean I have to like the way he's done it any more than I like Wesfarmers or Woolworths. If you're relying on companies like that to do the right thing by you you're highly likely to be disappointed.

Hang on a second, one minute you are saying he is undercutting the little bloke and now you are saying he is charging higher prices.
Agree that franchising has made some very rich and some very poor but the same happens with the privateers
I don’t like what the big corporate end of town has done either but that is how things progress. Look at the choice and prices we pay now compared to 30 years ago. We are spoilt for choice and price

[Beardy]

Yes but the HN model of business is no longer relevant. The world has moved on, and there is no use pining for the days of old.

The fact they didn't make the web work for them will be a case study in the business books of the future.

Sent from my MI 5s using Tapatalk

This is not all about HN,it is about the whole retail industry and all the jobs that go with it. Gerry is just leading the charge. I am sure he has enough coin to crawl back into his hole and live a good life without working another day if he wanted too.

[FenceFurniture]

There is much to respond to in Beardy's posts, but I'm hungry, and 4 Corners is about to start.

[q9]

I am sure he has enough coin to crawl back into his hole and live a good life without working another day if he wanted too.

Whether he can or not is not the point. He isn't and he is lobbying to protect a business model that is DOA. He isn't the only one, but he sure has a knack for getting himself in the headlines.

The retail landscape is going to change irreversibly, like it or not.

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[cava]

Mate it is dead simple, we are talking about an Aussie running an Aussie business that employs Aussies.......

I stand to be corrected, but doesn't Gerry live/reside in Singapore, and a part of his enterprise is also based there?

[aldav]

Hang on a second, one minute you are saying he is undercutting the little bloke and now you are saying he is charging higher prices.

If that's specifically aimed at my comments I can't see where I accused him of undercutting the little bloke. It's more that he's battered him into submission with advertising, and I think I can be pretty confident of peoples general view about advertising.

From the point of view of forum members the debate is about the products we will either no longer have access to or that we will have to pay extortionate prices to access. It's not about the 10%. As one of the chief whingers about the current rules Gerry Harvey is fair game in my eyes. It's his business model that is one of the main impediments to Harvey Norman being able to effectively compete with overseas sellers. And lets be clear about it, the products he is mainly talking about are small consumer electronics. He couldn't give a stuff if we lose the ability to buy a specialist piece of kit, either because no overseas source will sell it to us or the price it is available at has gone up by 300% - not 10%.

[woodPixel]

Deleted as I'm whinging...

[A Duke]

Hi,
Talk about winging, this thread does not do too bad.
Not picking on anyone in particular, but hold up a mirror and if the cap fits wear it.
Regards