ozzieeagle

My Daughter is concentrating on this side of Business at the Ad and Media company she is working at. Showing companies how to implement it, instore actually.

Seneca21

I just can't bring myself to pay $32 for a book that costs £8 on Amazon, or whatever. Does anyone here know why they fixed the book market in Australia? Has it always been rigged like this?

In edit: I just looked into this and part of it is that they have GST on books, but that still doesn't explain the full extra cost compared with other countries. The UK does not put VAT on books, I'm fairly sure, but even if they did, your average £8 paperback would come to £9.60. This in dollars is $15, albeit it on the present very weak pound.

HelenTD

Isn't there also some requirement that commercial tenants must pay a percentage of their sales to their landlord?

Swerv-o

Essentially, the government prohibits the parallel importation of books from cheaper suppliers overseas. So local booksellers have to obtain their stock from local publishers who can [and arguably do] charge what they want.

This is in spite of a productivity commission recommendation that parallel importation be phased in over three years to allow book sellers to obtain their books from where they like.

The government could have acted on this in 2009, but instead chose to maintain the status quo, which is effectively a protectionist measure pandering to the book publishing industry. Most of the book sellers, including Dymocks, supported the change.

There's an article about it here:

Australians deserve access to cheaper books


S

Seneca21

Thanks again - I'll have a read. I have heard the argument that allowing these changes will ruin Australian writers - what? - like all the destitute writers in the US and Europe??

People would buy far more books if they were affordable, and writers and publishers would make more money under the changes. For example, I have bought one book in an Australian book shop, and my wife has bought - I think - three. We have bought dozens of books through Amazon. We would buy all these books from Dymocks or Borders or wherever if th eprices were competitive. So instead of getting $32 for a book, they get $0 for it.

ABCDiamond

If including ASDA in UK, how about including the bottom end supermarkets in Australia as well then ? Since competition began here, almost 10 years ago, we have really cut down on shopping in Woolworths and Coles.

JackTheLad

Who is the 'Norman' guy? I always see Gerry Harvey on TV, but Mr Norman is invisiible. (I'm guessing someone is going to say he is dead)

It's kind of like Microsoft, everyone sees and hears Bill Gates, no-one knows Paul Allen.

Or Apple, everyone knows Steve Jobs, know one knows Steve Wozniak

Everyone knows Gerry Harvey, who's this Norman bloke?

JTL

ozzieeagle

Incidently Preston in Melbourne postcode 3072 will have Two Aldis in the one suburb soon. They are building one at the Junction of Plenty Rd and High St. Thats surprised the hell out of me. There are 5 now within 5 km's of each other... Heidelberg, Northcote, Two in Preston and Brunswick. Anywhere else got Two Aldis in the one Postcode ? Probably be one in Coburg soon, so that will be 6 within 5k's of Preston. Another 10 years of expansion like this and they really will be giving the big two grief.

ABCDiamond

Born Overseas - Adelaide

• 9% United Kingdom (8% for South Australia)
• 2% Italy (2% for South Australia)
• 1% Germany (1% for South Australia)
• 1% New Zealand (1% for South Australia)

Heck... even Hahndorf has very Germans
Born Overseas - Hahndorf 5245

• 9% United Kingdom
• 2% Germany

DeadVim

Why did you have to do that?

I have spent the most pointless minute of my life finding out.

And I feel unclean and worthless.

Geordie George

So tell us, is he dead or not?

DeadVim

I can't remember, I've blanked the whole experience ... he doesn't rate a 'link' in Wikipedia so there's a modern measure of significance ...

ABCDiamond

Forbes Rich List 2006:

#33 Ian Norman
Age: 65
Net Worth: $ 385 million
Country: Australia
Married, 3 children


Gerry Harvey and Ian Norman opened their first store in 1961, sold up in 1982, to Grace Brothers. Grace Brothers then sold to Alan Bond, who promptly sacked both directors from their positions.

Gerry and Ian then started Harvey Norman in 1982.

Ian Norman, is now a silent partner of Gerry Harvey.
.

ABCDiamond

With $6.4 billion in sales in 2010 they must have a few customers.

Not sure I would want to own one of the franchises though, with only a 6.1% operations margin.

Seneca21

Why does it have to be born overseas? Your heritage isn't deleted because you were born in Australia. As I mentioned above, the large number of German-Australians in the state are due to a big wave in immigration many decades ago so they wouldn't register as "born overseas".

You can see the ethnic mix in this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Adelaide_CoB_dots.png

Note the orange dots represent people born in Germany. Also note that Perth is basically an English colony in comparison:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Perth_CoB_dots.png