Gerry turncoat Harvey gives gamers a deal
Launches discount, offshore GST-free online gaming site
The CEO of Australian retailer Harvey Norman, Gerry Harvey has unleashed his fickle ways on the gaming industry, launching an offshore discount gaming site just days before Christmas.
Harvey has been one of the most vociferous protagonists against the growth of borderless online shopping, campaigning for months on the idea of instituting GST on international orders.
His new venture www.harveynormandirectimport.com, is the manifestation of the etailing model that he has been so strongly arguing against.
The site will be based in Ireland, which will allow Australian customers to buy games directly from Harvey Norman Ireland, GST free, and at the lowest prices currently available in Australia.
Harvey Norman’s European suppliers are sourcing hundreds of game titles on line, which are available for immediate shipping.
"The gaming customer in Australia has been paying too much for years and we look forward to providing our customers with a new cost effective offering”, said Ben McIntosh, GM, Harvey Norman Computers and Communications.
The announcement came at the same time as the company informed the ASX that it had extended a loan agreement with financiers for the repayment of $610 million which was due to be repaid in December 2012.
Under the new terms of the Syndicated Facility Agreement, the loan is repayable in two tranches, one of $370 million, on 22 December 2014 and the remaining $240 million on 22 December 2016.
That’s a lot of games to sell to online. ®
COMMENTS
Get back at the whinging pom, ship your goods over here on his money...
Austrlaia is still subsidised for shipping by the UK tax payer as the "colony" is considered still vital for ongoing communicaitons and by product parcel delivery from Amazon Uk and other retailers when even their prices are 1/3rd the price Austrlaians are ripped off on.
Order more UK goods which in themselves are all made and brought in from China, and rack up a nice postal subsidy bill to be paid by the whingers!
So Harvey has finally remembered the age-old adage
"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!"
Took him long enough!
Now that Hardly Normal has caught up...
... have all the buyers not already foxtrot oscared to other non-HN etailers abroad?
As for the whinging pom (cupperty) - there's a whole world out there outside Englandshire - that's why Englandshire's in such a bloody state, there seems to be some belief that overseas of any description is automatically bad.
I don't get this. How do Norman and cronies claim that the GST is why we pay more in Oz? GST just adds peanuts compared to the pricing-up that happens in Australia.
Take Battlefield 3 (Xbox) for e.g. - on ozgameshop it's priced around A$ 43 while norman's DI lists it at A$59 and hardly normal lists at $67.88.
Mine's the distributors/retailers picking my pocket.
