The “Fair Go for Retailers” alliance isn’t really about GST – it’s about middle-aged retailers clinging to a 1980s model of doing business while failing to understand how the economy, society and their markets are changing. Just their miscalculation in the public mood indicates how out of touch these folk are with their customers.
– Paul Wallbank
The roar of the business dinosaur (2011-Jan-06) [ABC : The Drum]
IT NEVER ceases to amaze how otherwise clever business people can get the politics of the moment completely wrong – and end up worse off than when they started.
When billionaires start bleating in ”open letters” about the need for the playing field to be levelled, no matter how strong their case, you really have to ask what they were thinking or drinking.
Driving their Bentleys off Bolte Bridge is possibly the only thing that could have caused them more ”brand” damage than their claims that the main reason behind the retailing malaise is that once-captive customers are avoiding GST by hopping online rather than walking into stores.
– Ian McIlwraith
Billionaires take a turn at initiating ‘brand’ damage (2011-Jan-05) [SMH]
The predictable job threats and warnings about setting up offshore offices are simply nonsense, reminiscent of the claims by Neil Walford and his protectionist mates in the car industry back in the 1980s.
It would work better if the Retail Coalition stuck to the facts.
– John Durie
Retailers split after online GST campaign backfires (2011-Jan-06) [The Australian]
George Svinos, of KPMG’s retail group, said the onus was on retailers to strike better deals with suppliers, rather than demand tax breaks. ”The costs are higher per head in Australia than anywhere else in the developed world,” he said. ”You might ask some questions about why a Panasonic 40-inch flat screen is less than $400 in the US and is $1000 in Australia.
”But the GST component of the Australian TV is $100, so the consumer is not going to be swayed by saving the GST on purchases. At the end of the day the internet gives us competition for pricing in Australia.”
– Ben Butler and Mark Hawthorne
Big Retail to expand tax crusade (2011-Jan-06) [SMH]
The retailers got a powerful message from the public this week, the same one that all internet-exposed industries, including the media, have received: do better, provide more value, or get out.
– Shaun Carney
Patrons don’t buy it (2011-Jan-08) [The Age]
