Heard on the radio that this was a "trend" that whatever authority had noticed.

In order for them to "notice", it must be a bloody landslide, and inevitably an issue for local retailers.

The butcher is right, someone is paying that sales clerk.

OK, *are* you a genuine customer? right. We charge a $20 consult fee, which comes off the top of any purchase you make here in the next week, else we keep it. Oh? "just looking? carry on sir!
Or:
A shop three feet deep, all window, with the odd search screen to allow you to order Item#3 (with fried rice), and a cheap warehouse/delivery team, far from expensive retail-land, might be able to match internet shopping. with locally valid warranty? Has a given production batch been *certified* to meet australian standards? will your insurance cover property damage from a fault?

Rusty

Yes it is probably not good for our economy if we buy goods from overseas that we can get in Australia. However, it is in all human's nature to want to pay a lesser price for the same goods!

How on earth would you police the act of asking a salesman to tell you about an electrical item in a store, and then going home and buying it online from an overseas store?

If such a bizarre rule was made, wouldn't we all say 'no sir, I am not going home now to buy it online'!

A bizarre notion really.

Smaller retailers will close, fewer products in stock (within local areas will be available over time), larger stores such as Dick Smith etc I see as remaining open, though prices for customers will soar, as a result of the increase in consumers shopping on line.

For the urgent goods ordered online that a customer is seeking and discovers that it is delayed or missing, there will be a rush to their nearest electrical store, only to discover, the store(s) have closed their doors as a result of customers ordering online.

For the most part, though, I believe that people will continue to go shopping and purchase locally throughout each year regardless of the odd purchases made on line.

Many people LOVE to get out and about on weekends to cruise those shopping malls - I stay away as much as possible and never visit them on weekends.

What's so good about the current retailing model, then? You're expected to hop into a car, drive to a shopping centre, and search through massive air-conditioned showcases of stuff you don't need in order to find the two or three things you actually want (and often don't want, but you get lured into buying anyway because the display was attractive, or they're on 'special'). You do this several times per week, sometimes several times a day. You pay extra for advertising, enormous rents, shoplifting losses, and the labour of dozens of people who add no value other than keeping the place tidy. Whereas what you buy on the internet is delivered to your door — using a fraction of the staff, a fraction of the energy expenditure, and much, much smaller fraction of your time.

It's a big dislocation, sure, but change will take a long, long time. If we bothered to think internationally, many Australian businesses could sell their wares overseas as well. I do. Internet shopping — and retailing — is an opportunity. The world is a Darwin Machine, in which you can run, but you can’t hide. The fittest system will survive. I think adaptation is a better option for the economy than resistance, especially given that Australia is a small mammal in a world ruled by large carnivores. Better for us to master the internet shopping model than to fight it, I’d say.

I appears that only a few of you actually get my point, so let me make it very clear.

I do not have a problem with Internet shopping, other than the fact that your grand kids will have many less job options than you did.

My problem lies with those who do their research at the expense of others.

That's my beef!

Eg: People go into a shoe store, try on several pairs, find the pair/s they like, get the info (color, style, model) then go off and buy online and save 40%. THAT IS NOT FAIR!

This is happening with many items, clothing, electrical, etc.

Now how on earth can you try cloths on over the net!

It all comes back to the honesty of the shopper and whether or not the possess morals.

Now on the other hand, if they go to another shop and find the same item cheaper, then that's fine.

Sometimes it's hard to be sympathetic when many of the same big companies feel free to import cheaper foreign goods rather than supporting the local product or when they move various jobs off-shore to maximise their own profits.

I suppose that as consumers, we must all share the blame but isn't that what globalisation is all about?