Bargains galore found on NZ websites

By CHRIS BARTON

I've got e-tail bargains coming out my ears. Response to my quest for online steals has been fantastic - and yes, I was wrong. There are bargains in kiwi cyberspace. But as with real world bargain hunting, you've got to know where to hunt.

For computers, you could start with Advantage - a site that's been around since 1996, according to Mark Ward, who says about 60 per cent of its customers are corporate and 40 per cent retail. The site gets 200 to 500 orders and revenue close to $500,000 a month. Impressive. There are some great prices on PCs and I found what looked like a $20 saving on a Dynalink ADSL modem ($349).

Mark reckons there are profitable and good web merchants out there. But he says "the ones that are doing well perhaps do not want the rest to know it works".

Greg Clare, of Dick Smith Electronics, says that as well as presenting offers and savings advertised via traditional means, the website also lists many bargains which are not advertised in traditional media.

Where to look? Not just the "Hot Deals" section but also "Reduced to Clear", where you will find significant price reductions.

Greg points out, too, that the site also has free freight for orders over $100, delivered anywhere in New Zealand.

I was glad to get a note from Nigel Stanford at auction site tradeMe because although it's not really a retail site, I think it's brilliant. It would be even better if it got that rogue trader problem sorted out.

Nigel points out that some New Zealand businesses are bypassing setting up their own site and using trademe to sell goods - "they can be up and running in five minutes, selling to 66,000 customers."

In the PC components category, for example, there's a large amount of memory and other components being sold as new. The site gets 150,000 unique visitors every month.

AuctionCity takes that concept several steps further. It's an on-line auction site where local suppliers and retailers sell their obsolete, refurbished, imperfectly packaged, new and overstocked goods - and yes, there are some brilliant bargains. Since its launch late last year sales have grown to over $1 million for the past 12 months, sales and marketing manager Jay Anderson says. Last week it won the Netguide 2001 award for best e-tail site.

Next up, web designer Murray Moffatt told about an innovative idea to get shoppers to come to his client's shop after visiting the website - a 12.5 per cent discount voucher printed off the site Fifth Avenue.

Then there was Sarah, who scored a major bargain at Gallery 55 - an Invercargill art gallery which conducts regular tender exhibitions over the net. Artists include Mark Thomas, Annie Baird, Suzanne Platt, Piera McArthur, Nigel Wilson and Graham Brinsley. To register a bid you have to phone, but Sarah says she bought a painting for at least half the price the particular artist's work was selling for in Auckland.

Martin Jonathan had never been much of a fan of online shopping on New Zealand sites until he discovered Smoke CDs - where he finds prices considerably cheaper than most music retailers.

"Example: a new release at most stores costs $35.95, but smoke CDs sells at $23.95." Delivery costs are: post, $3.95; courier, $4.75.

Axel Mehling says his prices for Rosle stainless steel kitchenware made in Germany are excellent - usually 20 to 30 per cent under local retailers. He says he gets more international orders than from New Zealand. Best deal - the paper towel holder for $199, compared with about $260 elsewhere.

Marty Vink reports that he recently saved 40 per cent on his hotel accommodation costs in Sydney at Wotif. And the list goes on - NZ Gourmet Gifts, Airport Shoppers, Howzit, Gifts Direct and Lovrich and Go-Shopping are all worth a bargain hunter's look.

I also got quite a lot of e-mail from people who wanted to say that, despite the gloom and doom, they are doing quite well.

Like Kelly Raines from Acquire, which has seen sales increase by over 300 per cent in the past three months, and are continuing to grow: "Three months ago we made a profit of about $4000. This month that is likely to quadruple or even be five- or six-fold."

Jeff Poole of Fine Wine Online says he has average monthly sales exceeding $50,000 "by a fair sum" and expects to have "a six-figure month" in visitors in December.

It's good to hear so many local sites are doing well. But Andrew McCallum, of the IT Policy Group Ministry of Economic Development, alerted me to a July survey jointly commissioned from ACNielsen by the Inland Revenue Department and the Ministry of Economic Development.

The report states that internet sales levels are low right now - under $10,000 a year for half the e-traders surveyed. About a quarter generate $10,001 to $100,000 a year and a further one in six generate sales in excess of $100,000.

Just a third made a profit from the internet in the past 12 months - although just over half expect to make a profit in the next 12 months.

That was interesting because I also got a message from Carl McNeil at design firm E-Media who says a lot of the sites they build make a load of cash on relatively small traffic numbers. That's if you've found a niche.

Sites like NZ Shopping, where as well as sheepskin and possum products you can also get Coogi Australia gear. Or Artifact and its titanium jewellery, the kids clothes at Okkid, Wanaka Warbirds memorabilia at The New Zealand Fighter Pilots' Museum and things like Japanese Loofah Scrub Soap at Ariki Spa.

At The Stadium one can satisfy all manner of niche urges on beer, rugby and adventure gear.

But I'm still not sure if Lion Ice Boxer Shorts, selling at $24.99, or Speight's Briefs, at $9.99, really are what you would call a bargain.

* chris_barton@nzherald.co.nz

Links

Advantage

Dick Smith Electronics

tradeMe

AuctionCity

NetGuide Awards 2001

Fifth-Avenue

Gallery55

Smoke CDs

Rosle

Wotif

NZ Gourmet Gifts

Airport Shoppers

Howzit

Gifts Direct

Lovrich

Go Shopping

Acquire

Fine Wine Online

ACNielsen

E-Media

Artifact

Okkid

The New Zealand Fighter Pilots' Museum

Ariki Spa

The Stadium