Prince of Paisley
Distinguished Member
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Harvey Norman and others, succeeded not because they were all that visionary but because advances in manufacturing, especially the Chinese, with regard to quality, reliability and efficiency meant that buying a fridge or washing machine didn't require any backup expertise from the seller. We now expect, and get, goods that work out of the box and go without need for any repair for years. That wasn't the case in the "good old days". Nothing was plug and play and despite the nostalgia for the past most things required repeat fixing up.
Harvey Norman et all were basically the online merchants before online - that is they sold the goods without any knowledge of the good, no expertise and no after sales service. The manufacturer provided any warranties and HN would even charge extra for delivery - done by a third party anyway.
All changes in the market create challenges for existing players - the good ones adapt. The traditional australian response has been to clamor for protectionism and government help to avoid competition. ref; Gerry Harvey.
btw you don't see Gerry Harvey shedding any tears for all the small electrical goods retailers and local furniture stores he put out of business with his then new business model a few years back.
NB: The series on ABC TV called something like The High Street - is good to watch along with your Economics text book - it traces the fortunes of shopkeepers /retailers through a series of eras and gives an idea of how changes occurred in retail and how brutal customers and circumstances can be. Not to mention how sly retailers can be.
I'm glad you brought up that High Street show fxh, it is a very interesting program.
I think what's happening today to the likes of traditional big retailers like HN is very similar to what happened to the small corner stores back in the '60s.
When resale price maintenance was repealed in '64, large supermarkets could suddenly sell the same product at a cheaper price than their smaller competitors, due to their ability to buy in bulk and their lower overheads.
The same is happening today with the dawn of the age of online retailing. Without protectionist legislation, the larger tradtional merchandise retailers in Australia are facing competition from online businesses with lower overheads that can sell the same goods at a discounted price. It's now come full circle that the Harvery Normans of the world are now the victims of free trade, rather than the beneficiaries, and they don't like it.
The only difference to the 1960s is, IMO, the social downside to the loss of Harvey Norman &c. will be far less than it was when the quirky high street corner store went the way of the dodo and we all started shopping in faceless supermarkets and warehouses.