So, I just bought a new wettie. Very happy with it. Fits like a glove. I bought it from the UK. Online. Not local.
For me what mattered was price and convenience. I was confident in the sizing information provided, and when it arrived, I was justified. I did my research at night, when I had the time. I bought it at midnight, no shops were open then. I got to watch it move from country to country to my door via online tracking and it arrived from the UK to Melbourne in 6 days.
Part of me thinks I am helping to kill local retail by doing this, but another part thinks local retail need to get their act in gear and get with the 21st century. It was roughly 40% cheaper [delivered] than I could get it locally.
I'd be interested in what others think. Do you buy online, or do you support local? What matters most to you when shopping?
I always try to buy local, but as you put it - it's difficult with such large cost differences. Unfortunately the retail model is failing in many areas and 'local' shops just aren't moving with the times.
I bought my last wet suits online, but mostly because ladies windsurfing wet suits were not available locally.
Flying objects are introducing ladies wet suits so that may be no longer an issue.
I'd like to buy on-line, but when it comes to warranty, I'm equally prepared to throw it out and buy local. Especially when I spend the savings I boast about on postage.
Here's the deal. Yes its cheaper to buy online but what happens when shops start closing on mass because of declining sales. People become unemployed and the government receives less GST. The government has to pay these people the dole and if GST is not coming in to state governments, guess what? Yes, the government will raise our taxes so we end up paying big time anyway so at the end of the day we will be no better off. With the 12 billion $$ deficit, people are already talking Austerity measures in OZ. Just my loose take on things.
I buy online for smaller items as it's a 2 hour drive to my nearest retailer, but I buy online from Australian shops and local ones if possible.
If I'm buying a board or some sails I make the effort to go into the shop as I believe you will get a better deal if you go and talk to the retailer. If they have the stuff in stock you can often get a 10% discount on current model gear or more if it's superseded stock. The only time I've had retailers balk at discounts is when the have to freight stuff in from overseas and the transport costs don't allow them to cut you a deal.
What matters to me most is good professional service. If the service is good I don't really care to much about the discount. I'll fish for one but if the retailer takes the time to talk to me and find out what I want to do and offer suggestions about gear, I consider that kind of service worth paying for. I've had advice from retailers that saved me from buying gear that wasn't ideal for what I wanted to do and I ended up with better gear and I saved a bunch of cash in the process.
Having said that, Let me add this, a top notch website is absolutely vital. If your website isn't up to scratch you are probably losing business. Even though I like do my bigger purchases face to face I also like to do my homework and shop around on the net before I buy and Websites with limited product information and not much pricing info tend to turn me away.
In regard to the 40% cheaper price Sputnik mentioned, there are a few things to consider, the strong aussie dollar, even against the pound. You may also have avoided import tax if the value was below the threshold. As you all well know we get the crap taxed out of us on most imported items.
I don't really agree with Sputnik in regard to local retail needing to get it's act together, The boys at windsurfnsnow treat me like a relative and I practically leave with one of their kidneys every time I go there. I have had an equally good experience with fletch and the boys at SHQ. I believe our retailers do their best on price but are handicapped by our high rates of taxation.
Sputnik does however have a very valid point on the convenience and price competitiveness of buying online. I'm not getting in the car for a few small items and if a website doesn't have online ordering then yeah.. like I said they are probably losing a bit of business.
There are plenty of good reasons you can use to justify buying online from overseas and I would not think less of someone for going down that path.
But at the end of the day its more money going offshore and it will cost jobs if we all do it.
Off the topic a bit but I just lost my job because our customers decided to buy from china and I can tell you there is know way we can compete because it is not a level playing field.
It seems as though almost everyone is partial to their brands but occasionally for me those brands are not supported locally. I buy my sails online from WA - convenience (closest local shop 2 hour there and back), great service, great product and no hassle with warranty or returns on the very rare occasion it's needed. Almost everything else I buy locally from whatever shop has them in store. I've ordered a few fins from OS as it's often quicker and more convenient (again the distance from shop factor) than ordering from my local shops. Quality and service is top on my list, so I go where I get that. Seems like those two things are becoming more and more scarce these days as everyone is after a bargain and not happy to pay for a superior product or service.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, drive to the shop and pay $700 for something,,
or have it delivered to your door for $450 ????
Its hard to buy local when you can save $300+ on some items and human nature to get the best deal usually wins.
I guess if your loaded, a $300 saving might not be that bigger deal , so you might support the local. But for the average Joe Smith, $300 is huge.
As mentioned above, its the after sales service you receive when you buy local.
ok a couple of dollars might be saved, but if you have an issue with the product there is no way you'll get help from an OS online retailer.
If its something cheap its ok, but for big $$ purchases, local is the way.
its a tough one.
My boss once pointed to a mining component we were manufacturing and said "it costs us $3400 to make one of those. The same component can be delivered from china for $800. I can't even buy the steel for $800."
That gives some idea what we're up against. The amount of manufacturing jobs that have gone overseas is a national disaster and I have no clue what the answer is.
Has anyone asked retailers why they don't buy local?
ha, so confusing.....if i buy at the local windsurf shop im supporting locals? locals who import goods from overseas, that were made in semi third world countries, locals who knowingly buy these goods, bring them into australia, and sell them for a riduculous proffit, who then some how have the hyprocracy to cry that things are too tough in australia because there consumers are purchasing goods directly from oversea, ha,,,,,,
Has anyone asked retailers why they don't buy local?
exactly, its not the consumer, its the retailers, they have been doing what is now much more accessible to the consumers for years, buying cheap overseas, but they go a step further than the evil consumer who buys online oversea, they then sell it, grasscutting the local manufacturer, killing off there industry, then marking up the prices of the cheaper overseas products when there is no local competition left, eg, cars, clothes and even food,,,,, if all aussies are willing to take a gnormous step backwards in terms of wages, workplace saftey, living conditions, then u can compete with china? ha, we already have, and we won the race, were not working all day for crap, in crap conditions, in china, there working hard to have our lifestyle, and goodluck to them, in fifty years the tables may have turned, ha, all this over a dude buying a wettie online
Wowweeee this got deep!
Buy local (If they have kit your looking for) because they give us demo days, support, sponsorship and host events which without there support most likely would not happen. not to mention the ability to just go in and have a look at some sweet kit you'll never afford.
