Harvey hurt by “vicious and hateful attacks” on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook
January 7 2011, 6:51 am | | 22 Comments
The SMH reports that Harvey Norman founder, Gerry Harvey, will step back from the retailers’ campaign for GST to be imposed on overseas online purchases, saying he is hurt by the avalanche of criticism directed at him and feels that getting involved was ”suicidal”.
Harvey has conceded that the launch of full-page advertisements during the Boxing Day sales period was ”bad timing” and that the retailers’ message had been poorly communicated.
He said the rise of social media such as Twitter and Facebook had increased the ”vicious and hateful” attacks against him and a fellow retail boss, Solomon Lew.
22 Comments
Tough titties Gezza! Aussies are tired of being ripped off and are voting with their wallets. Here’s to healthy competition.
Who could possibly want to hurt Gerry’s feelings? Now if you want to see ‘vicious and hateful’ have a look at the prices on his products compared with those for the same goods and services in the US, UK, Europe, Canada, ad nauseum, not to mention the competition from neighbouring China, India and Indonesia.
The Australian consumers are just starting to catch on to how badly Gerry and his mates have been buggering them for the past several decades, and it’s the social media sites that have provided the average consumer the opportunity to tell the major retailers how they feel. It’s not the medium, Gerry, it’s the message, and it’s time you got it loud and clear. The ill-advised attempt to get the government involved in your protectionist schemes, after years of arguing for a free market to allow you to import goods from abroad without punitive tariffs has been exposed, and the consumer revolt is just beginning.
If you’re looking for that level playing field, lower your mark-ups to internationally competitive levels and improve your service. The whole argument against tax free online purchases is really the height of hypocrisy in as much as the GST is a regressive sales tax that most high earners do not pay in the end because they channel the vast majority of their personal purchases through their businesses, and are subsequently rebated the GST.
Maybe if you’d hired an experienced ad agency, instead of staunchly maintaining the in-house services to cut your costs, you’d have been steered in the right direction with your handling of social media, instead of the bungling that’s been part of the PR strategy thus far.
The PR firm that was advising these guys that the campaign was a good idea have to go down as the biggest idiots in years. Anyone know the name of the firm?
What an appalling campaign. If anyone needed an example of what can happen when you don’t think a campaign through this is it. Losing the debate is one thing, but the buffoons who created this campaign actually managed to achieve the impossible -get more people to shop online than before the campaign launched. The reason? The people who funded this campaign used their own money to highlight how much cheaper products were when purchased online. The campaign organisers should hang their heads in shame.
Oh poor, poor Gerry.
@ 9:35AM
FD Third Person is the PR firm that’s been ‘handling’ things for Lew, Harvey & brethren. One of their purported specialties is ‘crisis management’. Looks like they’ve created some more work for themselves.
http://www.fdthirdperson.com.au
The Just Grumpy blog says it all.
http://www.youngandgrumpy.com/2011/01/gst-retail-coalition-fd-third-person.html
Didn’t Gerry start the campaign? I thought it stemmed from his initial fight with Ruslan Kogan.
Now he’s just gonna step back and let everyone else take the fall.
Nice one Gerry.
The miners tried to keep the billionaires away from their recent campaign for obvious reasons.
The retailers making billionaires the face of their campaign must go down as an early contender for dumbest strategy of 2011.
When you take your eye of the ball and go racing. You loose touch. I feel sorry for the franchisees the captain needs to go back to the wheel.
You don’t pay GST when you travel and buy shut overseas. Get with the program guys. We live in a country that has the highest taxes, the highest cost of living and the highest property costs. Which other country’s people have it so hard. Try living in the real world.
Whilst at Uni I worked for the big sporting retailer. Other than being a good place to kick a footy on a Thursday night, it was a complete rip-off for its customers. Everything in the store is marked up at least 300-500%… They’d offer a price guarantee much the same way Bunning’s does – all to fool their customers into thinking they’re as cheap as you can buy it. Knocking 10% off a price that is marked up 400% (and imported from China) must be tough for them to swallow. The internet has made consuming a fairer market. Adapt or die retailers.
And now on Campaign Brief…
Gerry and friends seem to be missing the point. If the stuff we bought overseas was only 10% cheaper I’d get it. Fact is it’s more often than not 40-60% cheaper and delivered to your door. GST doesn’t change that. Gerry the model that made you rich is broken. Get used it, or better still change.
I am totally Interest Free regarding your complaints, Gerry. Totally.
I thought Harvey Norman was more about lines of credit. How much money do they make in offering people getting into debt buying things they don’t rally need! 100 days, 1000 days interest free- but boy do you pay for it at the end. Is this really good for the economy or just for HN hip pocket! HN is not an economy that value adds- it just sucks people who really can’t afford it, dry- see the damage you really do HN and your henchmen. False economy! And what’s un-Australian- smacks of fascism to me- are you the judge and jury Gerry? I will continue to boycott the dinosaur HN. Maybe you will wake up and become a responsible world citizen and be able to face your grandchildren when they ask “…what did you do in the war against wasteful and destructive consumerism Gerry…” Take inspiration from Dick Smith.
One up-shoot might be the abysmal retail TV advertising that pervades our living rooms disappears, or better yet, moves online.
Having seen the sophistication of UK Online retailers operating within the UK, it is no wonder that their Australian counterparts – who still believe “online” is putting up a pdf of your weekly flyer – are struggling. It is a national embarrassment that these retailers believe they can force legislation to retain a status quo that profits them while collectively failing to use the net to deliver a better value shopping experience to the very customers they have been openly ripping off for years. Seriously, this campaign is the advertising equivalent of asking turkeys to vote for Christmas.
– – (Gerry) said the rise of social media such as Twitter and Facebook had increased the ”vicious and hateful” attacks against him. – –
No Gerry, they just gave people a channel to direct their comments. Twitter and Facebook are not inherently good or bad. They just make things easier to spread.
Maybe if you understood the power of the web more instead of blaming it for your hurt feelings, you wouldn’t be so stuck in the past?
Read in the news today that high street retailers have had a bumper Christmas period. And they’re still complaing that they want more.
Not a good look.
Check out flexirent – 30% interest if you don’t pay it off at the end of the term.
Or end up paying 3 times the retail price over the term of the lease.
They try to hide this from their material as they know it’s
kicking the people who can least afford it in the balls.
@3:46
Too right, as the policies of most big retailers are poisonous, greedy, and predatory. They should be put out of business in any decent democratic society that protects the welfare of it’s citizens from sharks in suits.
How’s that for a ‘vicious and hateful attack’, ya cunts?
You dumb twat if they close the shop you wont be able to go and
get shafted