As we all know with the Australian dollar so high, no GST being collected on goods under $1000 and the (no longer as large) disparity between pricing in different countries around the world Australian consumers have been reaping the perceived benefits of cheap internet pricing for the last couple of years.
Recently I was speaking to one of our industry leaders and made the statement that Australia was in fact the cheapest place in the world to buy cameras - to say it raised his eyebrows would be the understatement.
He asked if I meant online. I said no. In our bricks and mortar stores.
He looked at me like I was on something and asked me to explain.
So I thought I'd make spell out my thoughts here and see if increasing the awareness of how cheap our camera stores actually are is a weapon we can use to educate the consumer on 'Buying Local'.
First up, lets look at the price of the hot Olympus OMD Camera with the Olympus 12-50 Lens in four markets.
Australia, The United States, England and Hong Kong.
|
Market |
Price |
Warranty |
|
Australia |
$1499.00 AUD |
2 years |
|
United States (B&H) |
$1245.00 AUD & Freight |
1 year |
|
England |
$1745.00 AUD & Freight |
2 years |
|
Hong Kong |
$1399.99 AUD & Freight |
1 year |
Now lets compare median annual wages from those same four regions.
|
Market |
Median Wage Annual |
Per Week |
|
Australia |
$69,000.00 |
$1326.92 |
|
United States (B&H) |
$25,203.00 AUD |
$484.67 |
|
England (Jessops) |
$31,225.00 AUD |
$600.48 |
|
Hong Kong (Digital Rev) |
$36,992.00 AUD |
$711.38 |
Forget the fact that Australia has four weeks annual leave, a fantastic medical system, paid parental leave, free doctors, cheap (relative to many countries) insurance and housing!!
If I earned the average median wage in Australia and wanted to buy an Olympus OM-D then walking into a store I would only need to hand over 1.13 weeks wage.
Compare that to an American handing over 2.56 weeks of salary, an English resident paying 2.90 weeks of salary or the poor Hong Kong citizen 1.97 weeks of salary.
So yes, when we take into account how lucky we are to live in a country where our average wage is so high and our living conditions are so good then we do indeed have it very good indeed.
Sure, a customer could order a camera (and pay the freight) from the USA and save themselves about 0.155 of a weeks wage - but at what cost to THEIR long-term standard of living.
The more they buy from overseas the more empty stores there will be in Australia.
The more empty stores the more people on the unemployment line.
The more people unemployed the less money there will be for people to spend on other industries. The less chance THEY may have of keeping their jobs.
In other words, it doesn't matter where they work.
Saving 0.15 of a weeks wage may have long-term consequences on the wage they used to buy the equipment in the first place.
I guess we have to start asking them what that internet purchase is REALLY going to cost them!!
Glynn Lavender
