Do you think the Amazon AU pricing will be more in line with its US/UK pricing or be just enough to undercut regular AU retail pricing?

That's the $64,000 question isn't it? In the USA they are up against an already extremely competitive market. Downunda not so much so I bet it will be more expensive. GST included as well.

This doesn't warrant it's own thread. While not directly related to Amazon, much of this thread has focused on the impact to local retailers from the introduction of Amazon or other large on-line retailers.

I needed to pick up a few bits and pieces for cycling. Nothing large, mainly consumables like bar tape, gloves, water bottles and bottle cages. Jumped on to the Wiggle site and built up a shopping basket of everything I needed. Total came to $195 with free delivery to NZ. Yesterday I was out and about and stopped into a local bike store. Firstly I was surprised that they stocked everything I needed. So I took a mental tally of what it would have cost me if I had walked out the door with everything I needed yesterday.

$470!!

Needless to say I hit the go button on my shopping basket when I got home. 

It's tough to be covering the overheads of providing a bricks-and-mortar, walk in and touch the products and talk to the people experience. How can you compete against Amazon's automated mega-distribution machine?

I bought my daughter a new cricket bat from Player Sports in Newmarket recently. Walked in with my girl, talked to the expert, and he spent a good half hour with her - swinging different bats, talking about the differences etc. That was so worth spending a bit more. I have a friend who owns a ski shop. Told me about how a whole family come in, took up over an hour of his time trying boots, availing themselves of his knowledge and experience, then walked out without buying. He can just tell they are now armed with sizes and product knowledge and will either buy online or overseas. Bugger.

kryptonjohn:

 

It's tough to be covering the overheads of providing a bricks-and-mortar, walk in and touch the products and talk to the people experience. How can you compete against Amazon's automated mega-distribution machine?

 

I bought my daughter a new cricket bat from Player Sports in Newmarket recently. Walked in with my girl, talked to the expert, and he spent a good half hour with her - swinging different bats, talking about the differences etc. That was so worth spending a bit more. I have a friend who owns a ski shop. Told me about how a whole family come in, took up over an hour of his time trying boots, availing themselves of his knowledge and experience, then walked out without buying. He can just tell they are now armed with sizes and product knowledge and will either buy online or overseas. Bugger.

 

How about an online shop, that delivers items for you to try on and pay cash/online for items you liked with more/less expert advice at your own home/work convenience?

there're 3 online stores (clothing/sports/tech) like that in Russia :) very popular

Apparel online stores are usually like that - they typically work on a 25% return rate (and pay the return shipping). Not sure if that extends to international shipping though.

I've never understood buying clothes online unless it's a repeat order. I used to buy shirts from Banana Republic, loved them and never found anything even close. Bought from them 4 years running, 5th year placed my order and they didn't fit. They moved to a slightly different cut and now they don't fit or feel as good. 

I occasionally would buy a second pair of identical shoes, but I can't just order a pair of 10.5 anything from anywhere because my feet are wide due to being flat and even if they fit, they may not be comfortable. 

kobiak:

 

kryptonjohn:

 

It's tough to be covering the overheads of providing a bricks-and-mortar, walk in and touch the products and talk to the people experience. How can you compete against Amazon's automated mega-distribution machine?

 

I bought my daughter a new cricket bat from Player Sports in Newmarket recently. Walked in with my girl, talked to the expert, and he spent a good half hour with her - swinging different bats, talking about the differences etc. That was so worth spending a bit more. I have a friend who owns a ski shop. Told me about how a whole family come in, took up over an hour of his time trying boots, availing themselves of his knowledge and experience, then walked out without buying. He can just tell they are now armed with sizes and product knowledge and will either buy online or overseas. Bugger.

 

 

How about an online shop, that delivers items for you to try on and pay cash/online for items you liked with more/less expert advice at your own home/work convenience?

 

there're 3 online stores (clothing/sports/tech) like that in Russia :) very popular

 

Slight sidetrack but Volvo in the UK are planning to sell cars on plans like mobile phones with a per month charge including a variety of services. One that caught my eye was the ability to specify the boot of your car as a delivery point for parcels, with Volvo 'Control' giving access to the boot to approved couriers on your say so (and only the boot).

Not quite as creepy as Amazon unlocking your door for their approved courier deliveries.

But still creepy.

kryptonjohn: Eh? Of course it will work. What does the G stand for?
And electronic devices mostly run power adapters or are multi voltage anyway.

Sadly the previous poster was correct. In Australia / NZ Amazon are bound by law to sell electronics with the correct AC adapter / plug.

That takes away a lot of their bulk buying ability as it means they'll need to deal with the local subsidiary of the likes of Seagate etc just like Harvey's and Noels.

So instead of ordering 10,000 Seagate hard drives for the US and adding on another 1000 for Australia - they have to order a whole separate SKU from Seagate Australia.

I used to work in supply chain for a NZ/AU based company that was bought out by a US company that sold the same products. While there were some products we could leverage savings on by taking the same part as the US they were a lot that had to be unique due to local standards.

Obviously this example only affects products that have an AC adapter in the box - however it is hard to imagine the local subsidiaries happily supplying product while turning a blind eye to parallel importing of their other lines.

For this reason I do think people have overestimated the impact Amazon in AU will have on the local market - at least in electronics anyway.

Shapenz:

 

kryptonjohn: Eh? Of course it will work. What does the G stand for?
And electronic devices mostly run power adapters or are multi voltage anyway.

 

 

 

Sadly the previous poster was correct. In Australia / NZ Amazon are bound by law to sell electronics with the correct AC adapter / plug.

 

That takes away a lot of their bulk buying ability as it means they'll need to deal with the local subsidiary of the likes of Seagate etc just like Harvey's and Noels.

 

Oh that's a pain! But those devices could be ordered to a US based onshipping service (ShipItTo, YouPost etc). Most devices will either work with a plug adapter or just run off a USB power adapter anyway.

kryptonjohn:

 

Shapenz:

 

kryptonjohn: Eh? Of course it will work. What does the G stand for?
And electronic devices mostly run power adapters or are multi voltage anyway.

 

 

 

Sadly the previous poster was correct. In Australia / NZ Amazon are bound by law to sell electronics with the correct AC adapter / plug.

 

That takes away a lot of their bulk buying ability as it means they'll need to deal with the local subsidiary of the likes of Seagate etc just like Harvey's and Noels.

 

 

Oh that's a pain! But those devices could be ordered to a US based onshipping service (ShipItTo, YouPost etc). Most devices will either work with a plug adapter or just run off a USB power adapter anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

Er, you do not think that, just perhaps, Amazon know rather more about this than you do? Or that they have rather more power and influence over their supply chain?

Amazon have been all over this kind of issue for nearly twenty years. They operate in Europe where there are multiple standards for mains plugs and it is not an issue because they get their suppliers to play nicely.

It's not just Amazon themselves. Consider avides, a German company who sell through amazon.de as a marketplace vendor. I bought loads of electronics from them on the amazon.de marketplace. When I left Germany and moved to Ireland, I soon found them on the amazon.co.uk site. They still operated out of Germany but with an English store priced in pounds on Amazon's UK site.

I bought from them via the uk and de sites and it made no difference. I always got the right plugs - mostly I'd get multiple plugs but sometimes just the right one for my shipping destination.

Manufacturers are desperate to sell well on the Amazon platforms because they are so big and Amazon will use their global reach to ensure that they are getting good deals worldwide.

If they cannot compete strongly in the AU/NZ market they wouldnt have come. I assume we can still choose to purchse from the US store.