Why do retail prices differ so much from country to country?
I ask because I have now been living in Australia for nearly 2 years and much of the stuff here, particularly retail, is super expensive compared even to England. This was highlighted today when I was looking up an AV receiver.
Take one particular model for example, the Onkyo 608:
High street/online Australian retailer - $1311 AUD
The US site of a particular rainforest named online retailer - $375 USD
Given the exchange rate is parity at the moment - 1 AUD = 1 USD - how does the Australian retail industry expect to compete and why can't they offer it cheaper?
The excuse the Australians get fed all the time from the retailers is "Australia is too big and sparsely populated so transport costs are so much higher than in other densely populated countries".
But that argument doesn't wash with me - If I can import that item, individually, lets say, for arguments sake, $200 inc taxes, bearing in mind this is at US retail prices, it would still cost less than HALF the price it would cost had I bought it in Australia. Surely if I was to bulk buy, at trade prices, it would cost far less than $200 per unit to import and hence offer even greater savings.
This doesn't just apply to this one product or just electronic items - there are plenty of other items which are cheaper to import individually than to buy locally. As a bigger example, my friend imported a Porsche Boxster S, went through hundreds of legal hoops to get it over here (cost him $15k AUD in total) and he still is looking to make a tidy $15-20k profit when he sells it on the second hand market! (Granted this isn't the same, given the luxury car tax they impose on any cars above $57k over here). I see the same, to a lesser extent, with UK prices on some items.
I ask because I have now been living in Australia for nearly 2 years and much of the stuff here, particularly retail, is super expensive compared even to England. This was highlighted today when I was looking up an AV receiver.
Take one particular model for example, the Onkyo 608:
High street/online Australian retailer - $1311 AUD
The US site of a particular rainforest named online retailer - $375 USD
Given the exchange rate is parity at the moment - 1 AUD = 1 USD - how does the Australian retail industry expect to compete and why can't they offer it cheaper?
The excuse the Australians get fed all the time from the retailers is "Australia is too big and sparsely populated so transport costs are so much higher than in other densely populated countries".
But that argument doesn't wash with me - If I can import that item, individually, lets say, for arguments sake, $200 inc taxes, bearing in mind this is at US retail prices, it would still cost less than HALF the price it would cost had I bought it in Australia. Surely if I was to bulk buy, at trade prices, it would cost far less than $200 per unit to import and hence offer even greater savings.
This doesn't just apply to this one product or just electronic items - there are plenty of other items which are cheaper to import individually than to buy locally. As a bigger example, my friend imported a Porsche Boxster S, went through hundreds of legal hoops to get it over here (cost him $15k AUD in total) and he still is looking to make a tidy $15-20k profit when he sells it on the second hand market! (Granted this isn't the same, given the luxury car tax they impose on any cars above $57k over here). I see the same, to a lesser extent, with UK prices on some items.
