The Point That Geoff Harvey Is Missing

Geoff Harvey and others are bemoaning the rise in online shopping citing it as one of the reasons sales are down in the retail sector.  He's missing the plot and so are many others.

Harvey Norman probably has one of the better customer service staff in the retail sector and he has started his own online site, but he's the poster child for  the Australian retail sector for bashing online shopping. 

On 30th August 2011, the Melbourne Age reported Harvey Norman results:  

"Net profit after tax increased to $252.26 million in the year to June 30, up from $231.41 million in the previous year.

Revenue was $2.70 billion, compared to $2.45 billion in full year 2010.

Outlook remains cautious"

There's no doubt that the GFC and ongoing instability in financial markets is hurting retail and impacting on consumer confidence but that's not all that's impacting on retail.  GST is currently levied on purchases made oveseas and imported into Australia when they exceed AUD$1,000.

I doubt that the additional 10% GST applied to overseas purchases under AUD$1,000 is the panacea for everything that ails the Australian retail sector.

Here's two classics that I found on the web on why the online industry is booming and retailers are hurting.

1.  Fitting fees when you try out potential purchases.

2.  How GASP , a high fashion retailer handles customer complaints.

I am an online shopper and have been for around 5 years, it all started because I could get better variety from shops in the US.  In some instances the price was near or marginally lower than the prices in Australia with the shipping added, so in my case it was about the experience not the price.

I still shop online using eBay, Amazon and AliBaba purchasing a wide range of good.  In a lot of cases I do save money but mainly it's still about the experience and the variety.

With Christmas coming up and retailers expecting a difficult trading period, perhaps improving customer service skills may have a greater impact than complaining about GST threshold for imported goods.