Let’s spend a few moments and go try to understand why it is that the traditional bricks and mortar method of shopping is largely doomed.

Last evening a friend tweeted that DJ’s in Sydney had some Apple gear on special. He then tweeted a few photos, and from the photos, it seemed (to me) that they had a 27″ iMac, with 1TB HDD, and 4GB RAM was being sold for PP1449.

That seemed to me to be a good deal; less than PP1500 for an obsolete, shop floor model. The exact same system is currently available, direct from Apple, as a refurb, for PP1550, so I had a good benchmark from which to judge pricing.

When I went into the store, I realised that the pricing, as tweeted, wasn’t accurate. The 1449 price applied to the 21″ unit, and the 27″ one – which was where my interest was – was priced at 1999. That’s quite lot more, and was well in excess of where I wanted to play.

So, I asked the ever friendly sales staff what the best price they could do was; they uhm-ed and ahh-ed a little, looked skyward in the hope for rain, and said 1800. I let them know what I’d already been able to identify; their response was that they didn’t do refurbs. I’m not sure that I understand that response: clearly a refurb might have been acceptable to me, as I’d already found out the pricing, and a refurb, from Apple, includes free delivery and their normal, full warranty.

By way of contrast, DJ’s were already asking me if I wanted purchase their aftermarket warranty, and were disinterested in meeting Apple’s prices.

Ok, so please, somebody tell me what I’m missing here:

I can buy the shop soiled demo unit from DJ’s for 1800, then pay extra for an add-on warranty (great profit maker for the store’s sales people) ….

Or I can buy a factory refurb of exactly the same unit for a saving of $250, with a full manufacturer’s warranty, delivered to my door at no extra cost ….

And, dear Gerry Harvey, there’s no avoidance of GST here. This is just a straight out apples vs apples comparison: same product, purchased locally, through local vendors, both of whom have local stores in the city and elsewhere.