Will it become the norm that retailers compete for attention online, rather than on the street?
The situation of people bidding up to $5000 for a $100 bill on Trade Me might sound ridiculous, but I am still thankful that New Zealand hasn't gone as commercially mad as the northern hemisphere can get.
eBay rules north of the equator, particularly in England. Over my holiday in
November, I watched as my stepson kept track of multiple bids, ready to step in with a higher offer. The target? Multiple sets of Peppa Pig toys, to present to my granddaughter on her birthday. In New York, my brother tells me they order so many parcels from Amazon they can lose track. My wife had ordered a dress to be delivered to their apartment, but forgot to tell them. Bewildered by the arrival of a random dress, they donated it to the Salvation Army.
Vast populations set the tone and culture for the markets, including every incentive possible to make it easy and quick to shop online. The issue for us is that, while online shopping is alive and well in New Zealand, it is not at the point where it would negate wandering the streets of Greytown or Masterton or Wellington, or make us less inclined to pop into Queensgate Mall. It is also apparent that places like the supermalls in Auckland are still heavily subscribed.
But the culture is increasing. Like the introduction of American customs like Halloween, we now see the Black Friday sales appearing online, the day after Thanksgiving in America. English chains like Marks and Spencer offer free delivery to New Zealand.
What saves our retail, for the moment, is New Zealand's remote nature and small population makes us less desirable to overseas retailers and makes ordering online more complicated than for someone living in Oxford or Los Angeles. Some outfits simply won't deliver. And our culture still values the touch, the selection, the trying-on in a shop, rather than the nuisance of sending something back via the post (and paying for it).
