lardyl

mmm......pays your money I suppose, but not all on trademe is such a bargain as it first appears and when you are talking about large white goods all you need is one wrong 'un and you have saved nothing on the whole deal......same applies to machines bought from the UK I suppose, but my experience of BSH (the only people I have dealt with here in NZ) is that they are reasonable if the machine is fairly new and you bought it new.....

lardyl

can certainly agree with the B&O thing - my dad used to service their stuff way back and it was all held together by hairy string in a big flash box.....
Still struggle to see how NZ retailers are going to have the volumes to get the stuff cheaper and knowing how the stores operate with loads of staff (JB and Appliance Shed excepted of course) hardly doing anything most of the day then they must either have much reduced shipping costs or ain't making a profit. The online stores in the UK have driven the UK prices down heaps so although I have little to compare it just seems daft to sell stuff or give it away only to have to buy it again, especially as you will only be earning $$$s not £££s anymore.....

sr71

Maybe big margins and low wages are why NZ businesses survive, but definitely online sales in the UK have made a huge difference. Even 6-7 years ago you'd struggle to get decent discounts in the UK, maybe it wasn't the done thing, nowadays it's the US mentality of stack them high and sell them low.

If you take JB as an example you can see how much many retailers have been making in NZ, Most new release CD's are $21 from them and at any other retailers they are $35. All they need now are some retailers like JB to enter the NZ market in other areas - clothes, shoes etc.

lardyl

Oh and on the washing machine front - most of the AU suffix Bosch models are made in Thailand (AFIK) and the better euro models are made in Germany.
May be quality issues there........
I would avoid some of the Spanish Bosch models for that very reason

I used to get decent discounts in the UK from retailers 10 years or so ago, but then my old man was "in the trade" and if the retailer did not play ball there was always the wholesale option via the right contacts - got my first CD player and cassette deck that way......

Problem with this market is that our population is small and spread out such that competition is going to be hard and I'm not sure that I always want the cheapest option......as I said about the Warehouse fan heaters - once these flood the market, decent manufacturers lose out as they lose volumes, have to raise prices and then a decent appliance becomes too expensive resulting in polarisation of the market with cheap tat and expensive quality - a lose-lose for us in the middle

lardyl

as you say there are lots of retail and service niches in NZ, just look at dentists and opticians, all seem to be in the position those services were in in the UK about 20 years ago, creaming it but ready for a fall.....????

eddie_nz

re north face, berghaus

you can get that in NZ but remember it will be roughly the same UKP cost

E.G 100 UKP Berghaus = 271 NZD

However your salary will go the other way so that sort of kit suddenly seems very expensive.

There are of course cheaper local alternatives depending on how much of a brand junkie you are.

Remember no matter how much you bring clothes last 3-5 years so yoru in for the local nose bleed costs eventually

eddie_nz

Ready for a fall??

Only if people don't need teeth or glasses.

NZ is only a few Mill people,l its really not worth the big (E.G cheaper) corporates to come over and enter those markets

sr71

Probably cheaper alternatives, but NZ also produces one of the absolute best brands, if not the best - MacPac.

There are also other very good brands like Katmandhu, Fairydown etc and quite often they have sales on a lot of their stuff.

But that's probably the opposite of what is actually happening. Many global brands are coming to NZ.

Of course people will always need glasses or dental work done but the delivery mechanism could change. For example, why go to an expensive independent optometrist when you could get contact lenses at half the price from an internet retailer. Many services in NZ are a bit old-fashioned - pharmacies, optometrists, dentists etc. Someone with some marketing smarts could do a makeover for some of these and reap the benefits. Although I'm not 100% sure that NZ'er trust a lot of that 'spin' that many in the UK worship these days.

eddie_nz

[QUOTE=sr71;6848731]

But that's probably the opposite of what is actually happening. Many global brands are coming to NZ.

[QUOTE]

That is very arguable

How long has it taken Ikea to make it across the ditch????

To a market that is pretty much crying out for them and would put up with the inflated prices???

sr71

[QUOTE=eddie_nz;6848738][QUOTE=sr71;6848731]

But that's probably the opposite of what is actually happening. Many global brands are coming to NZ.

Ikea were prevented from opening a store in NZ.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/shopping/n...ectid=10490969

eddie_nz

[QUOTE=sr71;6848784][QUOTE=eddie_nz;6848738] Yeah prevented on 07 that’s still 5 years after opening in OZ.

I'll give you people are setting companies to import stuff from the spare room, can be don’t with a web site and a bit of common sense.

Corporations have pretty much no interest in moving to NZ, see Whsmiths purchased Whitcoulls, then after a couple of years sold it.

Quite simply there aren't the economies of scale that corporate are interested in.

To give you anther example when do you think NZ will get an apple store, you know one you can walk into and not an apple reseller????

sr71

I think that is a distinct possibility. Apple are rolling them out across Australia and 1-2 in NZ wouldn't be out of the question. Afterall Apple do have an online store (they took over Renaissance) in NZ and iTunes.

My honest opinion is that overseas companies want to invest in NZ, but many people in NZ are very resistance to doing anything progressive. Look at the Rugby World Cup stadium fiasco - a perfect opportunity if there ever was one to have a showcase, world class, waterfront stadium but instead they'll just try and rehash Eden Park. NZ'ers always want to do stuff on the cheap.

It's a bit sad in a way because they have produced a lot of highly educated people and could have become a type of Singapore but instead they want to remain a large relaxed Polynesian island.

But there are still plenty of globals with stores here - Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Emirates, Vodafone, Sony, Starbucks, Boss, Crabtree & Evelyn, Samsung etc

Team-Reynolds

Hi
When you say you didn't bring your pine bed because it wasn't treated, what does that mean? Sorry if it sounds a bit thick but we are bringing some pine furniture over so wanted to know what treated means.
Thanks