STORES are slashing prices by up to 60 per cent to tempt shoppers to spend and to compete with cheap online deals.

Clothes, perfume, jewellery and toys are being heavily discounted well ahead of the traditional Boxing Day stock-taking sales, reported the Herald Sun.

With just under three weeks until Christmas, most shops are discounting select items, but some fashion and men's suit stores have shaved at least 30 per cent off everything.

Australian National Retailers Association chief Margy Osmond said some outlets desperate to boost sales had started Christmas promotions as early as mid-November.

"It's the new normal. There has never been a better time to be a shopper," she said.

Discounts were now so cemented in the psyche of Australian consumers that it was often the only way to persuade them to open their wallets.


Comments on this story

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     sam of brisbane Posted at 12:23 AM Today

         Prices are still too high. When things break and you try and take them back your met with a wall of excuses, especially computer parts. OS sellers exchange with no questions asked, they know what to do to get you back again. Aussie retailers are a joke, they jack up the prices, limit stock ranges then stuff you around on after sales issues, any wonder people shop elsewhere. You have fleeced the aussie consumer for long enough. Look at books, what a joke. I seriously tried to get certain titles here and when I was told of the delays and the eventual cost it was 50% cheaper to buy OS and ship it here. Go on, add the tax you bleat about, it will still be more expensive to buy here! It's not just price that people flock to OS purchases for. OS websites are set up to make buying there easy, look at most sites here, they are a pain to navigate, you don't have all the information and then you end up having to ring a store to check for stock levels or information that is missing. Online retailing is NOT putting up a pdf of your latest specials and hoping that will attract people in, it's a whole change in mind set how you treat customers, sadly retailers here have not cottoned on this yet


 
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     mad Posted at 1:29 AM Today

         If you can shave 60% off the price to begin with - therein lies the problem

As a consumer, we're in a prime position to take advantage of bargains when it suits.

A business will get good discounts for buying in bulk, however, they still need to ship, store, market, provide a workplace, and pay wages to get the product sold in their stores.
I don't see it so much as being inflated costs as it is a gamble for businesses of whether or not they can make a bottom line profit once all overheads are taken into account.

A lot of businesses now need to sell very cheap (whilst also including warranties) in order to compete with internet buyers who need only pay shipping and delivery costs to have a product on their doorstep..without reliable warranty.

In many cases, businesses are probably just doing their best to cut their losses by clearing stock as quickly as possible. They can't afford to be paying overheads for rapidly outdating stock that they've purchased at relatively inflated prices. They need to get rid of it and purchase updated stock with the better buying power of our current dollar.

I don't see that the consumer has been fleeced, because this is how capitalism is supposed to work. There are a zillion retailers competing fiercly for your dollar; not just two, three or four (like our banks, political parties, oil companies, etc.) who can collude with each other to keep prices unnaturally high.

At least the consumer is in the game here. We are part of the competition in that we get to choose how much we want to pay for a non-necessity.
When a product becomes a necessity, then that's the time when you'll be well and truly fleeced by your retailer.





   i

VIVA LA REVOLUTION KOMRADE!!!!!

You've got to feel sorry for the poor retailers. They are all trying to sell the same made in chinese sweatshop goods at 10 to 100 times their real value just so they can pay Frank Lowey for his rip off rent :(

I'd hate to be a retailer these days competing with everyone else selling the same made in china goods :(

Many items on Ebay are at 1/3 the price of the shops
even when they are having their so called sales.

I checked the prices at a local retailer : before during & after a sale,
& the prices were the same.

People are fed up with their fake sales.

Answer - buy on Ebay or elsewhere online.

Bobby. wrote on Dec 11^th, 2010 at 11:14am:

Many items on Ebay are at 1/3 the price of the shops even when they are having their so called sales. I checked the prices at a local retailer : before during & after a sale, & the prices were the same. People are fed up with their fake sales. Answer - buy on Ebay or elsewhere online.

did you hear about one of the major white goods retailers that were actually bumping up their prices during a sale ;)

http://au.todaytonight.yahoo.com/article/7771265/general/fake-sales


Quote:

Fake sales    * Reporter: Rodney Lohse    * Broadcast Date: August 16, 2010 It's sale day at the Good Guys, the national retailer where you pay less for cash, and today is special - there's a 15 per cent off store-wide sale. But in one store, it's not going matter how much cash you splash. A little over a week ago Gary Furniss, an employee at the Browns Plains store in Brisbane, says he was ordered by proprietor Russ Daniels to raise prices in preparation for a one-day sale. "So you're being hoodwinked into thinking it's a genuine discount off the normal price," Gary said. And it was spread across the whole store. "In some cases the customer will actually be paying more," Gary said. A 20-year retail veteran, Gary called Today Tonight in to expose the lies. "It's something I've never practiced before," Gary said. Take the 46-inch Toshiba LCD television - the day before the sale it was on a manager's special for $1478. Regular retail was $1594. On sale day both those prices disappeared. Suddenly, it cost $1799 and with 15 per cent off $1529. That's $51 dollars more expensive then the day before. The day after the sale the price changed to $1478. Then there's the LG 55-inch LCD TV - before the sale it was $2799. On sale day the price jumped by $200. A Samsung 46-inch LED LCD television before the sale, with no discount, was $3499. On sale day it the price rose $400 to $3899. After the sale the price came down again. University of New South Wales Head of Business Law, Professor Frank Zumbo, says inflating prices ahead of a sale could breach consumer laws and has called for the ACCC to investigate. "There's no doubt that artificially inflating prices in the lead up to a sale to give the false impression of a discount, is misleading and potentially a breach of our consumer laws," Professor Zumbo said. "Companies can be fined up to $1.1 million and individuals can be fined up to $220,000." As for Russ Daniels, he was happy to take part in an interview with Today Tonight, but later retreated to the safety of his office. He then sent down his electronics manager Jason, who turned out to be his son. Without an interview Today Tonight's crew decided to leave the store. In the end it was admitted customers had been overcharged and were offered a refund.