caliburn

Visited Riyadh recently on business and I was pleasantly surprised to see quite a few outlets of UK chains including Debenhams, Marks & Spencer, Next, H&M and many more. How come you don't have these in Australia? Saudi Arabia has a population level similar to that of Australia, but somewhat lesser purchasing power and thus perhaps lower scale. What is the major entry barrier for UK companies getting into Australia? Just wondering..........

caliburn

Did I mention Harvey Nichols?

KJCherokee

In a word - competition. Australia already has plenty of stores which sell similar ranges to M&S, Debenhams, etc. Saudi has a huge (and transient) ex-pat community who will use these stores because of familiarity, whereas most ex-pats in Australia are here for the long haul and have assimilated into the local shopping culture.

Besides, if we has M&S over here it wouldn't be an adventure to shop there when we go back to England on a visit!

I'd love to have a supermarket here to match Sainsburys though.