Myer launches new China-based website, but online competitors not impressed

Department store giant Myer has put up its long awaited Chinese-based website online in a “soft” launch, but so far the competition isn’t too afraid – or impressed.

Chief executive of kitchenware retailer Everton Online, Hal Pritchard, says the myfind.com store doesn’t seem to be posing a credible threat to online retailers anytime soon.

“At the moment, I think it’s laughable. It might be competition to department stores like DealsDirect, but it’s certainly not anything that’s going to worry me.”

“I presume there isn’t much on the site because they’re just trying it out and so on. But it’s expensive, with no brand names, presumably not good quality… I can’t see it going very far.”

Pritchard says Myer is most likely using the website as another method of dealing with the Government on the issue of charging GST for online purchases.

“I really think this is just about trying to make a point. The department stores haven’t done anything serious with online, they’re aren’t price competitive… I don’t really worry about them and they don’t seem to affect me.”

A coalition of retailers including Myer, David Jones and Harvey Norman argue the Government should charge GST for online purchase because consumers are able to buy cheaper goods online and then escape paying an import charge. They argue charging GST will keep dollars here.

But Pritchard and others argue that customers are shopping overseas not just because of discounts, (which are often more than 10% anyway), but because of customer service and the ease of buying on overseas websites.

“At the moment, what they are doing isn’t concerning me at all. I’d be much more concerned about the little players here who are doing their jobs extremely well rather than Myer or DJs trying to do something online.”

The soft launch of the Myer MyFind.com.au store occurred quietly yesterday – the company issued no press release or other materials. An official launch is expected within weeks, with more marketing activity expected.

Myer was contacted for comment this morning by SmartCompany, but a spokesperson said the company would be fine-tuning the website before a formal launch “within weeks”.

DealsDirect chief Paul Greenberg says the launch of the site could be a political tactic.

“I couldn’t help thinking that this is potentially a way to get the Government back on the table about the GST debate. If that’s the case, I’m not particularly a fan of that strategy, and I’ve been quite vocal about that.”

“The other option is that they simply want to take an incremental approach. If that’s a soft launch, then that’s to be respected, and if that’s the case they will work on an incremental basis. But it doesn’t strike me as a very powerful strategy.”

Greenberg says while he doesn’t want to disrespect Myer, he nevertheless argues the first launch of the site wasn’t particularly impressive.

“I’d be lying if I said I was overly impressed. It was a bit underwhelming, and it just struck me as lacking some buzz, or excitement of a launch.”

Retail giant Harvey Norman has said it is working on a similar site of its own.