Here's one for ya...was talking last night with a group of pals who have just come back to London for a few weeks from Oz and the conversation got round to why Marks&Spencers don't have any stores in Australia..it seems very odd..they are in Malaysia........Singapore(I believe) and even have a store or two in Jakarta......but strangely none in Australia.........bit of an obscure question I admit but does anyone know why?
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That's why their sellotape is called Durex.
In addition, until about 10 years back Australia had very restrictive trading regulations in place which made it nearly impossible for major new entrants to come into the market - these regulations were supported by Myer/David Jones in the department store sector and Coles/Woolworths in the supermarket sector as well as by the Unions.
It is only over the last five years or so that the lucrative grocery sector has seen any serious new entrants emerge (such as Aldi) but it is still an uphill struggle as the big two control all the best retail sites.
One final point, M&S is widely known here but is seen as very much a British brand which might make it a tough sell for obvious reasons.
Obvious?
Eeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrr?
I'm not sure that's a factor, Australia seems to enjoy plenty of other British exports. I suspect the reason is that it simply just never happened, that other Department store groups dominated the market and in any case moving into a region where you are not well known is not an automatic guarantor of success. It's easier for a successful brand to keep expanding in areas where it is accepted or has some international clout (eg KFC, McDonalds are global brands), so M&S presumanly preferred to invest in areas where their brand carried some weight and where economies of scale meant that they could trade profitably. Starting from scratch in a region where your brand has little or no loyalty or name recognition makes the entire process much harder and takes longer, the alternative would have been to buy an existing department store group and then re-badge everything, but that doesn't always work.
Walmart for example is known in the UK but when they bought up Asda a few years ago they preferred to continue trading under that name which is more popular and more widely known/accepted rather than re-badge everything under the Walmart brand. Midland Bank kept their name and logo for a long time after they were taken over by HSBC, and then changed gradually -adopting the HSBC logo before changing the name on the fascias etc.
I should have explained that better. There is still very much a little brother - big brother relationship from many Australians towards the Mother Country and as such there is a genuine antipathy towards all things British.
Australians would no sooner abandon their own "true blue Aussie" retailers and become M&S devotees than Brits would abandon M&S in favor of a US style newcomer that entered the UK market.
The Walmart takeover of ASDA is a good example of this by BFR.
I lived and worked out there for a while - in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth - and found the Aussies to be quite fond of the Brits.
There was always plenty of banter but I've never bought into the Ashes stereotype of the UK-hating convict..
Despite your explainations, I have the feeling that there is a more 'profound' reason why this hasn't happened other than antipathy or lack of interest in M&S as a brand..........let's not forget they are/were predomintely a Jewish set up......maybe, way back, that was baulked at at some high level in the OZ government and they weren't made to feel welcome..........who knows?
The food thing(as mentioned by one or two others), really isn't an issue, as M&S were clothiers many decades before their food products came on the scene.
The reason Burger King re-badged here as Hungry Jacks was that the name was already copyrighted in Australia before they set up here. I think that the original Aus copyright is now expired but the parent company has chosen to continue with the Hungry Jacks brand.
Although there was a white Australia policy I dont think there is any evidence of anti semitism esp at a Government level. Many Jews settled here after the War. The fact that it is a small market - population is only 20 million spread over a vast area would probably have a bigger influence over investment decisions from England.
Yes Byron, re the anti semitism angle, it was only a thought on my part.
I did not say that there was an anti- British feeling generally, because there probably is not I have only had one row in 12 years and that was with a Kiwi.
But the Aussies do have som very strange attitudes towards British produce namely that all British food is deep fried rubbish or roast dinners and that we drink nothing but warm beer.
Things have probably changed a little bit in the last couple of years because of the huge fame here of Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay but before that the Aussies certainly viewed UK food as a bit of a joke.
I've lived over here for 16 odd years and although all the points above seem valied, I cant go past the quote above!!! Classic!! lol!
In fairness, we tend to think all the Aussies do is BBQ prawns and drink ice cold piss water masquerading as beer.
I don't have a problem with the BBQ prawns - although most of our prawns are imported believe it or not - but the beer here is truly awful with two or three honorable exceptions.
Trying to explain to Aussies that beer does not have to be served at glacial temperatures is like trying to explain quantum physics to George W Bush.
Same as all beer served that cold Ormy, there's only one reason for it, if you could actually taste it you couldn't keep it down...
My experience in living in Sydney was quite different regarding the beer, the apparently aussie beer we drink over here was very much not in evidence. What I saw was mostly bottled, but a good range and high quality, and yes cold - due to the climate, I believe the US is similar too and they don't all drink Bud like you might expect
As for Aussie beer.....sitting by Sydney Habour any beer would taste good.....but judged as purely beer, I wouldn't give it too much credit!
The Aussies have had a strange opinion on what we eat, mostly unfounded I have to say, but the legend exists. I still recall my first visit to Australia.....I couldnt believe how many shops there were around all the suburbs of Melbourne....I couldnt see how they all managed to co exist. However, as stated the supermarket arena is dominated by Coles and Woolies, and I think its going to be difficult for any company to infiltrate the market place...there are a few Aldi's but they tend to be in down market heavily populated areas around Sydney. When we came back here to live, I couldnt believe how cheap the supermarket shop was compared to Oz. Cars too are proportionately more expensive...even home built cars (Holden and Ford).....£7000 for example is still demanded for a 10-12 year old shagged out Toyota Hiace....I bought a cheap Ute on our last visit, For Oz anyway....a 2001 Triton (Warrior here without the leather) When I came back and did the comparison, I was shocked to see that for the same money I paid in Oz, I could have got a 2005 model here....Having said all that, Id move back permanently tomorrow.
:-)