What's your percentage of income spent overseas on retail?

Australian Retail Down

I wonder if much more of our RETAIL spending 'problem' is purchases going via internet, than anyone realises.
Also money being sent 'home' overseas by 'essential' new working visa immigrants.
Both not, or way under, reported.

Given the strong dollar.
Last twelve months I'd guess I spent over the internet on retail stuff, probably around $2000.
Maybe a tad more.
Next twelve months I expect very conservatively to spend about $1500 plus on retail, over the net.
Plus that tad.
This could blow out though depending on large one off purchases.
Most stuff I buy would average out to around $20 an item.

Seriously this is a massive whack to Australian retail when entire population is considered; and more disposable income is going on utilities and food.

It's mainly cutting out the middle man anyway, as retail is mostly imports.
Ie a transformer I bought at Jaycar about $32 (switchable), busted in a month - replaced with one (non switchable) from HK (with shipping) under $4.
Fifteen lithium batteries for the price of one here, free postage.

If we still had US surface ship shipping prices...


Looking at the charts ag up in $US down in $AU, wowsers!

 

My % income spent on retail stuff: Around 5%
My % of that spending on overseas stuff: 100% - used to be only 50-60% since I bought hard drives locally but now I just don't buy any locally or overseas.

My reasons for spending online:

- Better prices
- Better variety
- Better customer service
- Better convenience (Re: my butt on the chair)

 

food is retail, petrol is retail.

i buy clothes at an op shop and i mostly drink booze for free.

rest of my money goes on bullion pretty much atm.

 

It's only going to get worse as people find out the exorbitant pricing in Australia.
Eg Levis 501 jeans in Oz $120 per pair, on Internet for US $38 per pair even with post you still get two for one.
I used to travel to Indonesia often all my work stuff was custom made there at 30% of oz prices and it was better made.
Off clothes
Bottled water from around the world for between 10 and 30cents oz per bottle and we pay $2.50+.

 

+1 to ripoff prices. Recently had to buy 2 textbooks and it was a total of $70 delivered if I bought from overseas whereas if I bought it here it would've cost me $70 per book and I would have to move my lazy ass to the store.

Obvious which choice I went with!

 

It's an interesting scenario, and it's effects will be very far reaching. I can't blame anyone for buying something cheaper from overseas via the internet. Because Australia has the second highest wages and worker entitlements in the world, and our cities have among the highest rents, and because of limited buying power due to the small population and distances from manufacturers, Australian retailers and wholesalers can't compete.

The result of this change in consumer buying has begun, and is accelerating. The result is inevitable eventually - Lower wages, lower entitlements, high unemployment and lower rents. Once the mass layoffs take hold in the retail sector, the wholesalers and all of the other businesses that support retail will begin their layoffs, the shops will be empty and rents will go down as landlords seek to get someone into their premises.

The reason that Australians have enjoyed such good wages and entitlements and low unemployment is because of a healthy retail sector supporting wholesalers, importers and manufacturers and all of the ancillary industries, and providing millions of jobs. This will soon not be the case.

Really we can have one of the other - High employment and wages and entitlements and relatively expensive goods, or cheap consumer goods, high unemployment and low wages in the coming years.

Looks like Australians have already voted.

 

If I need it I get it from Australia e.g. food, petrol, electricity, water.

If I want it I get it from abroad e.g. books, collectables, clothes.

If it was 'Made in Australia' I would buy it here but I have enough hats with corks hanging off them (I have one, a present from my old workmates when I told them I was emigrating to Australia, no idea where they got it from, nor the book on how to play a digeridoo.)

About the only thing I do buy here that I want would be some of the aboriginal art, Mitjili, Gloria Petyare, Abie Loy Kemar etc.

 

In the last ten years Australian policy could have guided funds into real wealth creation (ie innovation, R&D) but instead we got wealth transfer schemes.

If beggar-thy-neighbour scheming is a national pastime, then we will make a beggar out of our neighbour.

 

I don't actually buy much in the "retail" area at all. I did a big de-clutter a few years ago to get rid of the mountains of crap I owned and I'm trying to keep it that way because in all honesty I don't need that much stuff and its a waste of my money if I buy a whole pile of stuff I don't need.

I probably buy 50%+ of non-grocery purchases from overseas.

I suspect that commercial rents in Australia are the biggest contributing factor to making Australian retail uncompetitive. I know we have high wages and hiring costs as well but we've had a cross-over from the ridiculously high residential property prices to commercial property prices. The "housing stress" we hear about with people paying more than a third of their income to service their home loan also exists for retailers too and they (obviously) pass that extra cost on to their customers who are starting to get sick of paying twice (or three times, or four times) as much for something that they can buy easily enough online. Its also easier to scheduling in a trip to the local post office on the way home from work than it is to get to a major shopping hub, negotiate your way to a parking space, find your way to the shop you're after, deal with the woefully ignorant staff, pay, get your stuff back to the car park, negotiate your way out of the car park and then continue on home. If there are parking fees involved, that's probably as much as what the postage costs to get your items shipped from a warehouse in California.

 

I know what you mean, the giant shopping centre near us never has any parking unless you choose to go at odd hours, we choose not to go at all as there aren't many bargains. Even Aussie online shops are undercutting the Aussie retailers so we don't miss out.

You have a big country but tiny car parks and when they give you bigger spaces (you have more room than we do in the UK) you just buy bigger cars. Most of the spaces in our new local shopping centre require at least a three point turn to get out of as the lanes are so close together and the cars are so big (granted I have a jeep wrangler unlimited which requitres 3+ lanes in order to do a U-Turn)

If shopping was less hassle/more pleasurable we might go out on a whim or just for a weekend treat but it isn't, so we don't.

(I actually find the Indian call centres to be more useful and customer friendly than any of the Australian businesses I have had to call)

 

I was speaking a chap who is managing a friend's company and he spent a fairly large portion of the 1980s managing shopping centres, he was the general manager of Pacific Fair at the gold coast and he is obviously still connected to people in the industry. I was doing some casual 'creative' work for the company and had a business lunch and this fellow was telling me that a lot of the large shopping centres are doing massive discounts on rent and in some cases offering free rent just to keep tenants in their centres so the place doesn't appear half empty. Rocking Horse records, somewhat of an institution in Brisbane for a solid 35 years or so was facing closure recently and they had a massive 50% off the entire store sale and a huge campaign to try and 'save' it. They've managed to keep their doors open for the time being, but they are getting free rent in the Brisbane CBD because the owner of the building is already struggling to get any tenants for other stores.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/enter...t-out-to-pasture/story-e6freq7f-1226083470847

 

Every time a record store closes down, an angel dies.....

 

But you gotta laugh when they say they are calling from Melbourne, when 'Melbourne' is the company name for a group of cubicles set up in the corner of their building.

 

Usually 0%, but in some years 1%.

I'm not into discretionary spending.... but my gf's at the time always are @_@

(Note: Otaku gf's are expensive, but kawaii)

 

For those whose Japanese is a tad rusty...

Otaku is basically an introverted comic book/anime enthusiast

Kawaii is 'cute'.

 

Sugoiiiiii desu!?!?!??!?!!!!!!

I pretty much buy stuff from HLJ and CDJAPAN on at least a monthly basis (sometimes weekly), all the K-ON merch and stuff like that is just too alluring.

Can't buy any of that stuff here so supporting local stores is out of the question haha.

That cosplay crap is pretty expensive though and I steer well clear of it.

And... back onto the topic at hand.

I recently got like 5 custom made shirts and a full set (suit) for < $400 AU , damn good quality, italian silk etc etc overseas.

Can't even get half a decent suit here for that. Bugger.

 

Kono toransurta wa, jissai ni wa yuiitsu no oroka sa rete iru toki ni ichibu
no hitobito wa, hontni sumto ni mieru nodesu!

This translator makes some people look really smart,
when in fact I am only being stupid!

 

Just about everything is more expensive in Australia.

I have been buying a few things from Hong Kong on Ebay and a few things from the USA but still stick to mostly Australian stuff on Ebay but have to admit to buying just about everything online these days from books to machinery mainly because I live in a remote locality and it is so much less hassle than travelling to a city to look for something.

My big win was deciding to do a trip to Thailand for dentistry - I needed a LOT of work done - price in Australia would have been over $20,000, price in Thailand was a fraction of that and best dentists I have ever come across, and cheap holiday at same time. Recommend it to anyone!

 

There is a cosplay shop down by Paddy's market in Sydney, actually there are probably quite a few but I only stumbled across one. Now I just need someone to dress up in it. Probably is expensive, I couldn't read the labels.

 

Sounds like you guys are going down the same road we did in the US.