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‘It’s not fair, I tells ya!’

Photo retailers – and ex-photo retailers who identify Harvey Norman as one of the reasons they are no longer in business – will have bemused reactions to Gerry Harvey’s observations about unfair competition from Amazon.

‘If they are going to come in and use predatory pricing to send other businesses broke,’ he told News.com.au, ‘I don’t get why that is a good idea.’

– While it’s hard to disagree with the sentiments expressed, the hypocrisy is gob-smacking! Many would argue that, over the years, Harvey Norman’s pioneering of 10 cent and 8 cent prints have done just that to many suburban photo stores in Australia. As we have noted over the years, Australia has the lowest priced photographic prints in the world. This was sheer retail vandalism from Harvey Norman then Big W and the rest, with the cooperation of Fujifilm. An entire segment of niche retailing has been ‘decimated’ (which is what Amazon is said to be planning for Australia retailers) simply to drive foot traffic into larger stores. 

Co-incidentally, we last re-visited the hoary old issue of Australian print pricing when looking at the entry of Amazon into the US photo services market, and its pending arrival in Australia. Back in October last year we wrote:

The Amazon Prints service [in the US] has come in with market disrupting price points. A 6×4 is offered at US$0.09 versus Shutterfly’s 15 cents. A 5×7 from Amazon is 58 cents while Shutterfly is asking 99 cents. An Amazonian 8×10 is US$1.79 while at Shutterfly it’s US$3.99. (Respective prices from Snapfish Australia are 15 cents for a 6×4, 49 cents for a 5×7 and $3.95 for an 8×10.)

To see just how appallingly the local market has been trashed by discounters already, with supply courtesy of Fujifilm Australia and Kodak Alaris Australia, all you have to do is currency convert and add GST to those ‘market disrupting’ Amazon Prints prices: So the US 9 cents print is around 14 cents Australian incl. GST. A US 58-cent 5×7 would be around 85 cents Australian with GST and an Amazon 8×10 would be around $2.50 including GST. Hardly market-disrupting down here!

Gerry Harvey went on to say; ‘Across America they have sent retailers broke all over the place — family businesses that pay tax and employ people.

‘We will be happy to equal their prices and if they are predatory prices, trying to send us all broke, we will be saying to the government that is against the law.’

It’s interesting to compare and contrast Gerry Harvey’s fit of outrage at the unfairness of it all to the more relaxed attitudes of specialist retailers we asked this week about Amazon’s pending arrival. 

It would appear that while Amazon has Big Retail quaking in its boots, the hardy survivors in photo specialist retailing have already been through the kinds of challenges Gerry Harvey is railing against – courtesy of the pricing policies devised by businesses like Harvey Norman, and abetted by Fujifilm and Kodak Alaris.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8 Comments

  1. No Mr Harvey No Mr Harvey March 2, 2017

    Suck it up Mr Harvey! You stuffed the industry with your 9cent prints and your business model will die soon. They call that the circle of life.

    • CB CB March 2, 2017

      Circle of Life, so true. Well said!

  2. wayne wayne March 2, 2017

    I would love to see one of gerry harvey’s stallions do to him what he has done to the industry

  3. Noel Bentley Noel Bentley March 2, 2017

    That looks an old photo of Gerry used in the article

    • Keith Shipton Keith Shipton Post author | March 2, 2017

      Hello Noel – yep, pretty old. It’s the only one I could find quickly that I was confident didn’t abuse someone’s copyright.

      • Noel Bentley Noel Bentley March 3, 2017

        Ask Fuji for an updated photo. I am sure Gerry will obliege

  4. CB CB March 2, 2017

    Completely missing any sense of Hypocrisy seems to be a required trait for many people in Gerry’s position of power.

  5. bob bob March 9, 2017

    I wonder if Fuji will hop into bed with Amazon and supply cheap paper or if they will be “loyal” to Harveys

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