How come there arent any competitive Australian online retail websites

[cobba]

How come there arent any competitive Australian online retail websites

There is competitive shops in Australia.

When you buy from stores in Europe, you're not paying the VAT that the locals over there are.

Looking at the prices of a XTR 9000 Rear Derailleur from Merlin, Pushys and Jenson USA

$205 from Merlin
$225 from Pushys
$246 for someone in Europe that buys from Merlin
$264 from Jenson USA

 

[takai]

Ive said this in other threads ... DONT TRUST THE AUD VALUE THE OS STORES SHOW YOU !!

Check the value of your order basket by
i) getting the total of the basket in local currency (eg CRC, Wiggle = GBP, Jenson = US, Bikediscount = EUR)
ii) go to either Paypal or your credit card providers website and get their exchange rate ... depending on what you are paying with
- divide the GBP / AUD rate = Aussie amount.
Compare the value they say in AUD vs what you calc ... Theirs is always lower anywhere from 10 to 20%

they show rates the average consumer never will get.

Actually all of the retailers i have used charge in AUD via Paypal. WYSIWYG.

The only retailer i use that doesnt is Jenson, and i just use my US CC for that.

 

[schred]

Ive said this in other threads ... DONT TRUST THE AUD VALUE THE OS STORES SHOW YOU !!

Good point. 78c AUD is more like 74c on the card + a few $$ for fx charge by the bank, fckers. They don't miss.

You think Paypal is better/cheaper than straight on the credit card.

 

[johnny]

C'mon Johnny.... surely you picked up my hint of sarcasm.....?

Sorry, I did not. It's Friday, the world is dead and buried to me.

Are we all missing out on an equivalent online retailer based in SE Asia?
I can remember buying some snowboard gear from a Chinese company (but through ebay) that made products for Burton and sold off excess stock and cancelled product lines for super cheap. We actually had the gear verified to make sure it was legit and not just a knock off.
Anyone know someone who works in the pike mega factory?

Taiwan probably had very little riding but China might pick up sometime soon. Although bikes are still largely seen as the transport of the poor.

Friend in Malaysia tells me Penang Hill is now criss-crossed with trails and riding is great there. Maybe it will pick up in Thailand and the south of Malaysia as well, which might improve things for us.

 

[takai]

Good point. 78c AUD is more like 74c on the card + a few $$ for fx charge by the bank, fckers. They don't miss.

You think Paypal is better/cheaper than straight on the credit card.

Not a good point at all:

 

[rowdyflat]

CRC + Wiggle is great for free shipping on big items ie wheels.
They have a brilliant business model .
They operate by huge volumes , huge ranges of products, low prices + low taxes on profits.
Recently though Pushys had a good sale on wheels so I bought Stans.
As others have said Australia being a nanny state + workers paradise has high costs now wages, workers comp /OHS , Australia post , electricity privatization blah blah.
IMHO USA has lost the plot + probably doesnt care with privatized postage costing a fortune + not sometimes even posting out of USA eg Santa Cruz/ Competitive Cyclist.

 

[pharmaboy]

Ive said this in other threads ... DONT TRUST THE AUD VALUE THE OS STORES SHOW YOU !!

Check the value of your order basket by
i) getting the total of the basket in local currency (eg CRC, Wiggle = GBP, Jenson = US, Bikediscount = EUR)
ii) go to either Paypal or your credit card providers website and get their exchange rate ... depending on what you are paying with
- divide the GBP / AUD rate = Aussie amount.
Compare the value they say in AUD vs what you calc ... Theirs is always lower anywhere from 10 to 20%

they show rates the average consumer never will get.

10%? No way.

Wiggle and CRC now advertise in Aussie dollars and bill in Aussie dollars. I would never use paypal to pay a bill on a foreign currency, they give terrible rates. The NAB ( which isn't a particularly good deal btw) give the std TT rate (best rate you can get) , but then charge a 2% fee which is charged seperately so it's open and you know what you paid.

2013, I bought everything from the UK in GBP because it worked out a few percent better ( maybe 3 in total) because of poor exchange rates, but last time I did the comparison they were on the money, especially given I don't have to pay the banks commission on forex of 2%

Eg, just checked a wiggle price for thomson post, gbp41.61 is aud82.22, but aud price is $84.06. That's a difference of 1.84, which is pretty much 2%, the charge I avoid by paypal in aud anyway.

But don't use foreign currency on paypal they aren't regulated like your bank and can charge what they want, and seem to - I got 70c in the dollar for a us conversion not long ago - won't do that again

 

[schred]

Not a good point

Slow down you havent proven the point yet, how does that indicated total of $41.47 reconcile to your Aud bank acct, ie is it the same?

Don't need screen shots, trust u at your word.

 

[Ja-Mez]

well 607 euro = 910aud on my cc card monday night.. thats with 3.5% conversion…..
paypal wanted 923….
straight conversion today is 870 odd not inc the exc fee.

 

[takai]

Slow down you havent proven the point yet, how does that indicated total of $41.47 reconcile to your Aud bank acct, ie is it the same?

Don't need screen shots, trust u at your word.

It is charged in AUD, that's the point of the screenshots. The second is straight from Paypal, and is what was taken off my AU CC.

 

[beejay]

Ive said this in other threads ... DONT TRUST THE AUD VALUE THE OS STORES SHOW YOU !!

Check the value of your order basket by
i) getting the total of the basket in local currency (eg CRC, Wiggle = GBP, Jenson = US, Bikediscount = EUR)
ii) go to either Paypal or your credit card providers website and get their exchange rate ... depending on what you are paying with
- divide the GBP / AUD rate = Aussie amount.
Compare the value they say in AUD vs what you calc ... Theirs is always lower anywhere from 10 to 20%

they show rates the average consumer never will get.

This only applies if the retailer does not get paid in AUD (accepts) and a currency conversion is required.
CRC and wiggle AUD has always been exactly charged as per website for me.
Other times when I've ordered from Germany (bike-discount.de and bike-components.de) it has been charged exactly according to that days currency conversion listing (plus 3% bank charge on my CC) very easy to work out cost within $1 before you order.

 

[beejay]

It's very hard to compete simply due to economies of scale. The Australian market is tiny compared to Europe or the USA. There is simply not enough money in it to compete on price alone.

As for your lbs, they make plenty out of the average MAMIL. From what I've seen, most people keen on off road are also happy maintaining and servicing there own stuff. Again, the market for MTB in the LBS is very small.

It seems that we are focusing on just the Australian market as the end of the supply chain, and yes it's a small market compared to the rest of the world. Is it possible for an Australian based online retailer to expand it's service to the world? Thereby increasing volume (putting pressure on wholesale costs)
With our close proximity to the manufacturers I could see another whole online hub for MTB and other cycling products based in Australia being able to compete with the existing major players.

Or am I just living in a fantasy world.....:crazy:

 

[Alo661]

It seems that we are focusing on just the Australian market as the end of the supply chain, and yes it's a small market compared to the rest of the world. Is it possible for an Australian based online retailer to expand it's service to the world? Thereby increasing volume (putting pressure on wholesale costs)
With our close proximity to the manufacturers I could see another whole online hub for MTB and other cycling products based in Australia being able to compete with the existing major players.

Or am I just living in a fantasy world.....:crazy:

You'd need the initial capital to hold that much stock in store to be able to compete on a global level. Also you'd need an amazing global marketing campaign to gain market share in overseas markets. Again, sunk costs would be quite high. Basically, the margins and return on investment are not enough for someone in Australia to start challenging these already established companies. There are better projects to invest your capital in. The bicycle industry isn't a financially viable one currently, in short term gains. It was 5 years ago, but no-one will invest in a project with a small promised return over 10 years now, given the fluctuations that can happen to the economy and the rapid response times of consumers these days.

If you see the opportunity, why haven't you taken it already?

 

[pharmaboy]

It seems that we are focusing on just the Australian market as the end of the supply chain, and yes it's a small market compared to the rest of the world. Is it possible for an Australian based online retailer to expand it's service to the world? Thereby increasing volume (putting pressure on wholesale costs)
With our close proximity to the manufacturers I could see another whole online hub for MTB and other cycling products based in Australia being able to compete with the existing major players.

Or am I just living in a fantasy world.....:crazy:

Ribble, merlin, evans, wiggle, CRC all got started in the UK. The uk already had far lower prices at the LBS than Australia because they didn't have a distributor model that thought wholesalerers should make a 30% margin on a product.

For whatever reason they had prices that were already low in global terms, and they also had a mail service that didn't have the silly rules such as asutralia post ( tried to ship a set of wheels overseas from Australia with regular post?)

People always sight scale of the operations, but it doesn't waSh, because they didn't start big but they did start cheap, and there were/are lots of them who are still competitive. Pushys parallels and tries to concentrate on brands and items for which they can compete - given there are plenty of bike products that are the same cost here as anywhere (plus GST), there is nothing stopping other distros from matching, apart from their long held belief that the Aussie consumer is happy to pay more

 

[moorey]

My arse hangs like the mouth of a tired dog.

This is true :nod:

 

[DJR]

I've used merlin and bike24 the last2 times I've ordered stuff ( or was it bike discount, can't remember ) both shipped fast (much faster than last time from crc), price good, didn't have to drive to shops, haggle a price, order in, and then pick them up.

I'd always buy a bike from the lbs and I do try to give local business a shot first, but on small purchases I can't see why you wouldn't just go online, every part is available with clear pricing (not rrp - club discoint - haggle %)

Some item prices in local online retailers are good, some not, and considering the difference is a couple of days wait why do anything else?

 

[thatsnotme]

Challenge accepted

Pike solo 27.5 150 or 60mm

Pushys ~$980 AUD
http://www.pushys.com.au/rockshox-pike-rct3-solo-air-27-5-650b-160mm-fork-black.html

CRC - $1009 AUD equiv (and rising with our falling AUD)
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/au/en/rockshox-pike-rct3-solo-air-forks-15mm-2015/rp-prod109670

Price is only one factor when it comes to buying online from Aus vs OS though. The fork you've linked to from Pushy's is out of stock...and stock is an issue I've noticed from there a lot in the past.

For example, 4 or 5 months ago, I was looking to buy parts to service my Fox Forks. These were out of stock then, and they're still out of stock now - http://www.pushys.com.au/fox-fork-dust-wiper-seal-32mm-low-friction.html

Perhaps they were in stock at some stage in between now and then, but the issue is that there's a hell of a lot of stuff that's on their site that you can't buy, with no indication of when it might actually be available. So the choice is waiting an indeterminate amount of time before something might become available, or buying OS where stock's available now.

 

[speedyjonzalas]

Price is only one factor when it comes to buying online from Aus vs OS though. The fork you've linked to from Pushy's is out of stock...and stock is an issue I've noticed from there a lot in the past.

For example, 4 or 5 months ago, I was looking to buy parts to service my Fox Forks. These were out of stock then, and they're still out of stock now - http://www.pushys.com.au/fox-fork-dust-wiper-seal-32mm-low-friction.html

Perhaps they were in stock at some stage in between now and then, but the issue is that there's a hell of a lot of stuff that's on their site that you can't buy, with no indication of when it might actually be available. So the choice is waiting an indeterminate amount of time before something might become available, or buying OS where stock's available now.

I'd recommend anyone who is looking for pikes to go to bikediscount.de

I got mine recently from them for around $700.

A quick glance at their current price with conversion = 528 euro = 754 AUD.

Even if you get charged the 2 or 3% credit charge fee and 20 euro postage it still way cheaper.

And in stock.

 

[eastie]

In my world toy shopping wouldn't be just fixed price retail.
There'd be an app option for buyers to seek whatever it is you want, you request what it is you are after, the back end of the app would allow multiple suppliers to monitor and be alerted so they can provide an offer. The buyer then selects the offer that suits them. It works for the black market.

 

[yuley95]

In my world toy shopping wouldn't be just fixed price retail.
There'd be an app option for buyers to seek whatever it is you want, you request what it is you are after, the back end of the app would allow multiple suppliers to monitor and be alerted so they can provide an offer. The buyer then selects the offer that suits them. It works for the black market.

I have a vague memory of someone on here developing a website that would source and compare prices for an item from l the online retailers mentioned in this thread.

It was quite good but can't remember what it was called...