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Sucked in by Harvey Norman
There's been a bit of fuss and bother lately about online shopping. It seems that major retailers -- having successfully squeezed out smaller retailers -- are now upset by the perceived competition from online retailers. Times are tough, so it's time to attack the competition.Now here's an interesting memory... No facts, but a memory from ten or twenty years ago. A memory that stuck in my mind. A reason for my continuing reluctance to buy anything from Harvey Norman...
Harvey Norman was reported in a business magazine for their very successful marketing of PCs. This was in the early days of PCs, where new and better computer models were being released every other day. It was in the days when IBM first attempted to enter the PC market.
IBM released one of its first personal computers. This was in the days when, You'll never be sacked for buying IBM. The IBM PC was solid, dependable IBM.
The IBM PC was also an underperforming dog. In fast-moving times, where a PC would be out-of-date as soon as it hit the shops -- the IBM PC was out-of-date many, many months before it was available.
Customers failed to buy the IBM PC. Customers bought lesser-known brands with better performance and at a cheaper price. So IBM was stuck with a warehouse full of unsaleable IBM PCs.
Enter stage right, Harvey Norman.
Harvey Norman bought all the IBM PCs in Australia. At a huge discount. Advertised them as the latest model. Sold them at a price below the price of other PCs. And were praised for business acumen, in a national business magazine.
Meanwhile, the poor ignorant Harvey Norman customers were stuck with a PC which would struggle to run what was then current software. Take home "a great deal" -- and prepare to spend as much again, getting your PC up to a useful level of performance.
What other shoddy deals has Harvey Norman foisted on the gullible public since then? What else do they sell that is not worth the price? Is the attack on online competition just another marketing trick?
Yes, I'm a typical consumer: One bad experience -- or one bad memory -- and I just walk away.
Sympathy for Harvey Norman claims of unfair competition? No way.
Online Shopping Rules
In the Today section of today's West (11 Jan 2011) there's a list of suggested books. There's a brief review and the RRP (recommended retail price). I decided to check the prices.I compared prices from Amazon UK, Angus & Robertson (Australian) and the published RRP. I compared online prices but ignored postage. This is just a rough test...
There are five books and a journal. Angus & Robertson offer prices slightly below the RRP. After conversion from pounds to dollars, Amazon UK offers prices that are about half the RRP. Yes, half!
Interesting aside: One of the books has an ebook version. The ebook version is just a few pence -- just 5% -- cheaper than the paperbook book. The ebook has low production costs, very low distribution costs. The ebook cannot be lent to a friend, it can't be passed to your partner. It can't be sold to a second-hand ebookshop. But the ebook can be destroyed from your library -- without your approval -- by the seller. And for all those disadvantages -- you spend just 5% less...
The journal is a local production. It is not available through either Amazon UK or Angus & Robertson. Which is a godd segue into the article on the same page of The West...
If you want specialist books or journals, or small press publications, you may have to go to a specialist bookshop. For specialist SF&F, science fiction and fantasy, you can go to either of the two SF&F bookshops in Perth. Where you also get staff who know the books in their specialist fields.
Ian Nichols writes, in Sci-fi fans find inner space, that the two SF&F bookshops survive by knowing their SF&F books and their SF&F customers. And by providing good service. The bookshops survive. They do not make huge profits.
Meanwhile, other Perth bookshops have come and gone. Replaced, often enough, by national or multinational competitors. Which keep their prices down by buying in bulk and avoiding slow sellers. And which keep their prices up, until a new competitor raises it head.
Bookshops were the first to suffer from online competition. Some went under; a few survived.
Online shopping is a new form of competition. It's no use crying about it... It's no use blaming the competitors.
Online shopping is convenient. In particular, it is a convenient way to compare prices.
If you can't match the low prices -- don't compete on price. Perth's SF&F bookshops sell to a niche market. If you're wondering, what other strategies are there? then start your reading online... With the Wikipedia article on Porter's classic marketing strategies.
Good luck!
Agamedes Consulting. Support for your thought: email nick leth at gmail dot com |
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