Under Pressure or Retail is Tough
Post railway reconstruction and our passing trade is still way down, the Aldi site is still a closed petrol station surrounded by barb wire and cyclone fencing and the community bank proposal is still a proposal. The council beautification is going to take time, nothing set in concrete there either and my online sales are all over the place.
I am not the only one concerned about the viability of traditional book retailing.
The government here is concerned about the viability of the Australian book industry which contributes approximately $1.5 billion dollars per annum to our economy
In February 2010 the Australian government sent up a committee called the Book Industry Strategy Group looking at the impact that digital books may have on the Australian book industry. But eBooks are not my main concern, I sent a submission in and I wasn’t the only one with a much more here and now issue.
My main concern is the affect of international competition in an environment when the Australian dollar is incredibly strong.
I have no problem with competition however I feel very much at a disadvantage when international sites such as Fishpond and The Book Depository are not required to collect and remit GST under existing Australian law.
I have notices that these sites do comply with VAT and GST in other jurisdictions e.g. The Book Depository will add VAT charges for books being shipped to France and Fishpond NZ complies with New Zealand’s GST collection regime. These sites clearly target Australian buyers; Fishpond has a com.au website, calls itself Australasia’s largest bookstore and lists in Australian currency. The Book Depository also sells in Australian currency.
I understand that Australian Tax Law does not cover these entities as they currently stand but as they now accounts for a significant number of Australian book sales perhaps it is time to consider a change?
Of course book retailers are not the only ones affected nor is the problem confined to Australia.
My other major concern is postage costs.
To post a 500g book within Australia costs $6, even taking into account the type of discount a seller like Book Depository must achieve it defies imagination that a book like The Girl That Kicked the Hornet’s Nest which is well over 500g can be shipped airmail from the UK for $10.15 Au (now $9.98) INCLUDING postage. And to add insult to injury the internationals are shipped via air whereas regular domestic parcels are shipped by road.
I do not believe that airfreight companies charge less for mail coming from the UK than for mail coming to Australia. Royal Mail claims to be losing millions of pounds yet The Book Depository must be paying incredibly low freight charges for shipping to Australia. Australia Post distributes mail on behalf of the Book Depository and I am very concerned that the hidden cost of distributing international mail is being born by Australian purchasers of postal services who must pay more for parcel delivery to cover the cost of distributing The Book Depository’s books. There HAS to be a huge imbalance between parcels going out and parcels coming in.
Fishpond and The Book Depository’s share of the Australian market must be regarded as significant and the affect on the Australian Tax Base and domestic sellers should not be ignored.
Having customers come in and boast who they buy books from (Book Depository) and “have a go” because I am more expensive, well I have to pay Australian prices for goods and services, both as a business and a private citizen.
A level playing field, that would be nice.
** Feel free to discuss this in greater detail at our new Forum
Therese Holland
McLeods Books
10 Station St
Nunawading 3131
ph 0398777214
open 7 days
www.mcleodsbooks.com.au