I don’t pretend to understand the economics of NZ retailing, but the enduring mystery is why NZ retailers are so uncompetitive that an item posted on its own from the other side of the world can frequently and perhaps generally end up cheaper than one brought in and retailed in NZ. Often quality will be superior. Range of choice is magnitudes superior.

Retailing in NZ is hopeless compared to the shopping experience in the US. NZ retailers by comparison are undercapitalised, staff lack training and service skills by comparison, prices are frequently 2-3 times higher, and the shopping experience itself is a fraction of what it is elsewhere. Retailers will say cost of labour and cost of capital is higher and they can’t help that. True, but I don’t care: they have to win my business, and they are a country mile off doing that. GST isn’t really in play here.

I recommend Shipito as a cost effective and efficient freight fowarding service – about half the price I think from the NZ Post service. They consolidate individual items into a single package to save money on shipping. And they take photos and upload at every step of the process so you can see your goods. Super cool.

It’s called ‘creative destruction’
If it didn’t exist we still be in the middle ages

If I went into Whitcoulls and the staff said something like…

“Yes sir – we can get that for you, no problem. We can have it delivered in about a week. All I need is payment or a card and a delivery address…….. etc, etc”

And then they use exactly the same system im using to do the job. And they can add their margin to make a profit.

But no – you go in there and they piss around and eventually tell you that its not in their data base but that they can get head office to see if they can get it and if you leave us your phone number we will ring you (if we can be bothered….)

Screw that.

2. If I can buy what I want secondhand, I will try TradeMe first, then ebay, or Amazon second-hand if it is a book.

3. If I’m primarily internet browsing and see something, I look at the local NZ prices. If the cost significantly exceeds internet price + postage + GST then I buy it online.

In NZ is is only retailers who are squarking, this is different from the Australian situation where the State governments are squarking too since they perceive that their GST receipts are being eaten into.

Elaycee – is the situtation any different from me shopping around different stores in NZ for the exact same pair of shoes? When we try on clothing/shoes in a store, there is no unwritten ‘contract’ that then binds you to buy that item from that particular store. Consumer’s prerogative, and so it should be.

Fair enough. But if a customer tries on clothing / shoes and then buys online, I’d call them hypocrites – wanting all of the attributes (variety / styles / colours / sizes etc) normally found in a High St retailer, but will then buy the same goods online.

I’m not in the retail business so I have no personal axe to grind. But I prefer to buy ‘locally’ where I know that (a) I can browse and handle the goods I am considering (b) I know the product is backed by the retailer (c) if something goes wrong I can take it back. If that means I pay a ‘premium’ for that experience (and the service), then so be it. My 2c anyway…

eg Marantz CD6004 that Dime wants. 320 in pounds list in the UK. usually sold way cheaper. NZ price ON SPECIAL $999. That bugs me. That special is new too. $1299 is list.

Some importers are just greedy i tells ya. I could go on and on arghhhh

Blurays are getting better in price but still a touch high. CD’s are too high. Books are insane

The same BBQ, costs a little under $550 in NZ.

But, in other cases NZ is not really so badly priced — apple products for example.

there must be a huge mark-up on many items on sale in NZ

Looking at one of these as a gift and it’s easy to see why people buy offshore.

List Price: $2,093.95
Price: $1,079.00 & this item ships for FREE

NZ $4,649.00 incl GST

+1 to this.

Been a long time since I’ve used Fishpond. Mighty Ape is kicking their arse.

Big fan of Mighty Ape too. Service is really good. Buy something from Mighty Ape, then see it cheaper in store the next day, and they refunded the difference.

The main utility I’ve found for Fishpond, who tend to be really slow, is that if they happen to have an item cheaper than Mighty Ape, I’m able to use that to get Mighty Ape to lower their price

As for the $400 threshold, most of my sports gear ordering is done on overseas sites, that when you get to around $NZD 250 the shipping costs are free. So I break my orders down, and never go over the threshold. Simple. If you are bricks and mortar and you dont have a web presence, youre losing.

We dont owe anybody anything to be forced to purchase locally – after all the retailer is not forced to purchase at the wholesale level from a ‘NZ producer’ – I think it is the greedy retailer who wants it both ways ! They want to import cheap offshore products, and also expect us to buy them at hugely imflated prices ! Arseholes – they need to change this behaviour, then maybe a few of us would respect them more, and maybe consider local purchase

Minimum wage laws don’t help either.

Can anyone explain to me how the likes of Michael Hill Jeweller (and even Briscoes), can seem to be in continuous ‘sales mode’. I thought they had to have the products being on sale to those which have previously been on sale at the higher price for x days / months !
Never seems to be the case to me !