Retailers blame the workers

It's no secret that the retail industry in Australia is struggling. As much as the mining industry would like to think that Gina making bazillions is good for the overall economy, it appears those bazillions haven't found their way to the retail sector. 

And as much as the retail sector would like to think it's none of their fault all this difficulty they're now experiencing, um, a lot of it is. In short, many of them have been caught with their pants down by online shopping, in more ways then one.

As over the last few years online shopping has grown at a rapid pace, people doing so started noticing huge differences in prices with what they could get overseas and what the shops were selling here in their stores. I mean really big differences. To the point that the issue started being reported on in the news and current affairs programs. Over time I think it became obvious that Australian consumers were being massively ripped off by the retailers here, and had been for years. It's even more blatant now with the Aussie dollar worth more than the US$, but still price differences. I can't see why a telly made in Asia should be more expensive here than in the US; we're right next door to Asia, the US is right on the other side of the world from them. 

"The growth in online has brought transparency not just to consumers but to us as retailers," says David Jones' group executive of merchandise, Donna Player. "That has given us greater ability to go back and negotiate with suppliers."

Ms Player says the department store commenced a program of "global cost price harmonisation" at the end of last year and has negotiated wholesale price reductions of up to 50 per cent across hundreds of international brands and thousands of products.

Rival department store Myer has undergone a similar process and says it has achieved price reductions of up to 40 per cent, primarily across cosmetics, clothing and homewares.

Retail industry fellow at Deakin University, Steve Ogden-Barnes, says the greater transparency brought about by window shopping online means retailers' motivation for negotiating better wholesale prices has shifted.

"In the past retailers have negotiated firmly with suppliers primarily to increase profit margins," he says. "Now those negotiations often have a primary focus of reducing prices to prevent losing sales overseas." more  

Well look at that last little paragraph. How very telling..... And 40-50% reductions? Fuck, that's a lot. We then were getting ripped off by 40-50% at least, and it's still not as cheap as overseas! Where was all this money going that they were gouging out of us? To "increase profit margins". Pathetic. They're only just realising now in 2012 that a better way to go is to actually think about the customer and reduce prices instead of lining your pockets? Fucks sake! Shear unbridled incompetence.

So people got the shits and more and more bought stuff cheaply online. Retailers scratched their heads wondering WTF was going wrong. Finally some of them are waking up to this small little fact of price competition and are moving accordingly, albeit at a rather late stage. Yeah, another case of management with it's finger on the pulse.

There's also been issues of retailers setting up an online thing, but it being not much more than a token gesture. Lots of their stuff you could only get in the store and it wasn't available online. So what happened? Yep, people bought more cheap stuff from overseas online and got it delivered to their door. More management stupidity. Fuck how old are these retail sector gurus? Fuckin 70? Hello, here we all are on our PC's.

And now today I read this bullshit submission from the retailers to Fair Work Australia. Oh, guess who's fault it is that the retailers are up shit creak. Would it be the incompetent management spending years ripping off us all in something like daylight robbery? Would it be the fossils in the office who haven't actually realised that computers exist? Oh no, it's not their fault.... 

RETAILERS want Sunday pay rates cut by up to $8 an hour. Associations and organisations representing most retailers will tell Fair Work Australia that penalty rates - in recognition of working unsociable hours - should be cut or abolished. 

Unions last week argued that current pay rates and penalties must be protected. Read more  

I think I got it now... The people at the checkouts and stacking the shelves, they're sending the industry broke all by themselves. Never mind that they get paid fuck all anyway, but it's their fault for being paid too much. This is of course whilst management has spent decades lining their pockets instead of building their industry.

What a load of shit. I've heard it all before.