Hi poyndexter,I agree in principle to your statement but we...

Hi poyndexter,

I agree in principle to your statement but we never have and never will have a level playing field in retail or probably any other industry.
The reason? One main reason is the bigger the player the better the bulk discount given by wholesalers and manufacturers.
These bulk discounts that only the very large Harvey Normans, Myers and other retail giants receive have slowly eroded away the local small retail business sector so people have been forced to moved online to reduce costs to compete.
The big names in the retail sector are giving the indication that all the money is moving offshore but in reality we have a considerable number of Australian online business's. And if one speaks to some of these online business's i can almost guarantee you that you will find a number of them to be ex local business's crushed by the advent of huge conglomerates with better purchasing power... so, one could say to the retail giants that this is just a case of a self inflicted wound brought upon by their own hand...

So in reality, to have a level playing field would require that ALL retail companies receive the same price for the same goods from the wholesalers and manufacturers whether your a Harvey Norman or the local newsagent around the corner.
Is this ever going to happen = NO
So will we ever have a level playing field = NO