With the ABC shop being the latest victim of the online shopping monster, many jobs will once again be lost.

It was blatantly obvious that massive job losses would be the end result, so has the gamble of online shopping been worth the punt?

Hi rehctub. I do a reasonable amount of Oz online, or phone shopping, as with reliable suppliers, it is often cheaper to get stuff posted/couriered from anywhere in Oz, than to drive to a shop. These purchases have GST on them of course.

I find if you do your math properly, it is rarely economical to buy things that are available in Oz from overseas suppliers. They often look cheap, but with exchange & shipping costs, that advantage often disappears.

With my old Triumph sports cars, I buy from local suppliers wherever possible, even if this is slightly more expensive. It is very much to the advantage of us enthusiasts to have local companies stocking parts for our cars, to help keep the old marques viable & alive.

With some less often required stuff it is necessary to buy from England or the US. It pays to be careful when you do. Some suppliers try to make large profits by overcharging for freight

Rehctub, the world has moved on, as far as shopping is concerned.
For all those that may lose their jobs in shops and stores etc, there are many other people now in the online store business, so I think it all works out in the end.

Living in a rural area as I do, online shopping has been a wonderful development.
It means I don't have to travel many miles to a city I hate going to, just to buy an item not available in my town.
And most times the items are cheaper delivered right to my door, than going to the dreaded big smoke!

Hi Butch,
I think online shopping was not that long ago a novelty, just for a few computer savvy geeks having a bit of fun. The big retailers were not that interested, but have things changed. OLS is now big business and growing fast, 20% pa. It will eventually reach its maturity and growth will drop to a normal level. Within a generation or less OLS with be the natural, normal way to shop, and shop shopping will be the exception, but there will be a demand for the traditional shopping, some people actually enjoy it, why I do not know.
Young people are already seeing OLS as normal for them, where as older people are still making the transition, some not at all. The big sufferers first off are the big retail stores with massive overheads and huge margins, your DJ's and Myers, following them will be the boutique specialty stores, large and small the Anaconda type store, the little clothing store, right down to newsagents, finally the supermarket will suffer from a decline in walk in trade. those who adjust and move to become a part of OLS will minimise the pain, others will simply go out of business. The big suffer will be the 'Westfield' type shopping centre, they simply can't go online. The winners, could well be your local convenience type store, along with those providing fresh produce, plus those offering an experience like restaurants, not the bottom end Macca's type store, no experience there just order on line.

The ABC can no longer afford the shop rental, this is what happens when you cut funding.

"The ABC can no longer afford the shop rental, this is what happens when you cut funding." Boohoo. Now we are expected to subsidise the ABC's store rent too.

Doog, if the ABC can't run a competitive shop, it shouldn't be in that business.