JB Hifi Chairman Patrick Elliott, responding to a question at its annual general meeting, has claimed that when it comes to the sale of goods in its stores, it is prepared to go to a “direct import model” if suppliers don’t reduce the cost price of their goods.
With the increase of online shopping, retailers are becoming increasingly protective of their market. GameTraders has been grey importing stock from Europe, and we can only assume that JB Hifi’s threat amounts to the same thing – bypassing local distributors for cheaper cost prices.
“It remains open to JB Hi-Fi to import directly and bypass suppliers,” stated Elliott.
GAME’s Managing Director Paul Yardley mentioned a while back that moving to grey imports was a possibility, but stated that he’d prefer to develop the local industry as a whole. Game Traders on the other hand has taken to the grey imports market to compete with big outlets such as Big W.
JB Hi-Fi to put pressure on suppliers to lower prices [News]
Thanks Phill for the tip.
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