Hitachi leaves Oz: goodbye yellow brick road

As Hitachi continues to streamline operations, we get word that it is pulling out of the consumer electronics and whitegoods market in Australia. Announced over the weekend, Hitachi will no longer sell their appliances or flat-panel TVs, camcorders, and other CE-class goods in the land down under. ACs, industrial, and electronic goods will still be available. The move brings along 40 job cuts from its Sydney HQ. Hitachi claims that the Australian market is just too small and too competitive to warrant the effort. A sentiment backed by Sharp Australia's deputy managing director, Denis Kerr, who claims that Australia is under, "a siege mentality that has forced pricing to ridiculous levels that cannot be sustained." He surmises that if the trend continues, "Brand names are going to withdraw from the market place.'' Of course, all this leaves us wondering... who's next?

[Thanks, Dzx]

[Liem Dang @ Jan 21st 2008 6:21AM]

Does anyone hear Elton John in the background?

[Richard @ Jan 21st 2008 6:22AM]

The reality is the "no name" brands are selling consumer electrical goods with the exact same features and quality about 10-20% cheaper. They are just getting lazy and want an easy ride.

[mattclarkie @ Jan 21st 2008 6:29AM]

I am all for No Name brands, but some of them are terrible, and if I am going to invest in an LCD TV I would pay an extra few Hundred to get the best I can. Australians are shooting themselves in the foot, if the cheap prices drive out the brands selling the high quality goods, only to be left with the cheap brands, often because they are built with poor quality components.

[BrotherEstapol @ Jan 21st 2008 6:32AM]

I don't know what they are complaining about...the Australian consumer is(in general) paying more for consumer electronics than the US and Europe.

[Andrew Badera @ Jan 21st 2008 6:37AM]

In general, eh? Could you provide some basis for this claim?

[alloneword @ Jan 21st 2008 6:50AM]

Umm, sh*t cost more here. Is that enough proof?

[BrotherEstapol @ Jan 21st 2008 6:52AM]

Nah not really.
Just whenever I look at prices here, and compare them to prices overseas, we tend to get the short end of the stick.
Though in hind-sight, I don't keep an eye on the prices of fridges and vacuum cleaners, so we could well have a price advantage in the appliance department.
But whenever I've compared prices on camcorders, gps units and desktop displays we're not doing too well.

I don't claim to be all knowing in the department...I'm just stating my general obersvations as general consumer.

[Richard @ Jan 21st 2008 2:57PM]

Want a good example of, PS3 here in AU in November was US$870 while in the US it was US$500

[TroyG @ Jan 21st 2008 6:43AM]

Tell me about it - the best price you can find for a decent Samsung 40" LCD 1080p panel is about 2000 AUD / 1800 USD. A similar Samsung model in the US runs 1300 USD.

Of course, I type this while bitterly watching my Hitachi 32" LCD. --SIGH--

[Pc_Madness @ Jan 21st 2008 6:47AM]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOW CAN THEY DO THIS?!! OUTRAGEOUS!!

Wait.. Hitachi sold TV's down under? :blink: Don't think I've ever seen one. :p

[Cameron @ Jan 21st 2008 6:51AM]

How about like anywhere between $500 - $1000 mark ups on the majority of consumer electronics. A 46" Sony Bravia XBR television costs US$3,399 in the U.S. costs US$4207 in Australia.

Even considering the currency conversions, Australia is severely overcharged in pretty much all industries.

Another example, the new MacBook Air is US$1,799 and is being sold for $AU2,499 even though the exact conversion of the U.S. price is AU$2,051.

In some cases we pay double the price for products we receive months behind Asia, Europe and the U.S. Now someone please explain the logic behind that.

[grider @ Jan 21st 2008 7:04AM]

You want frustrating....
50" Pioneer PDP-5080 Plasma is $2000 in the US and $3250 in Canada.
Our dollars are about equal value and for many Canadians it's less than 1 hour drive to the US.

Most manufacturers will not honor warranty in Canada if it was purchased in the US.

[mattclarkie @ Jan 21st 2008 7:11AM]

Well nearly everything in the UK is double the US price. Europe isn't that bad, but the UK is, I always thought Oz got a good deal, but if you are shafted the way we are in the UK I feel for you.

[GST @ Jan 21st 2008 7:37AM]

$2499 is only $2271 without tax which the US price does not include.

$1799 is $2079.

That's a $200 discrepancy but it only takes the Australian dollar dropping 8¢ for it to be cheaper to buy in Australia - except for the 10% GST.

doesn't really sound all that illogical.

[andrew.l.wood @ Jan 21st 2008 8:33AM]

You can't lump the US and EUrope into the same bucket - in the UK we pay vastly higher prices than the US (hence the Treasure Island nickname). But we (and Aus) are a smaller market, and so there are fewer economies of scale, and more risks, so it makes sense. It only bites when we are charged more for virtual products (like the Ipod Touch software update - a 25% premium on a software product for a hardware product that I've already paid over 25% premium on, just for living in the UK - yeah, cheers).

[[e-mail] @ Jan 21st 2008 7:26AM]

i think i speak on behalf of everyone in Australia when i say

Hitachi, we never really loved you anyway.

[Dan @ Jan 21st 2008 8:58AM]

You know, there's an 'e' in 'you're boring'.

[TroyG @ Jan 21st 2008 8:04AM]

You make a good point re: GST. The reason I didn't put that into my above analysis is that in AUS, you must pay GST (included in prices), but in the US, it's very easy to avoid sales tax (never quoted in prices) with mail order/Internet order. Sales tax is only charged if the company you're doing business with also does business in the shipping destination's state.

So for Apple products bought directly from Apple, you would pay sales tax in every state because Apple has at least an educational rep in every state. However, if you bought the same MacBook from Amazon, you'd only pay sales tax if you had it shipped to the two states where Amazon does business (Washington and, um, North Dakota).

And as you also point out, one thing which is really messing with comparisons is the fall of the US dollar.

Thankfully, I have a brother who can receive packages, and slap a new label on it for me!

[Daza @ Jan 21st 2008 7:54AM]

The PDP-508 goes for about $4300 in Australia. Now THAT is frustrating!The PDP-508 goes for about $4300 in Australia. Now THAT is frustrating!

[Daza @ Jan 21st 2008 7:54AM]

*slaps head*

[Jamar @ Jan 21st 2008 9:00AM]

They're not even trying. Put Australia on the same release and pricing schedule as Japan and watch those sales rebound (Hello Kitty laptop included).

[Dustin @ Jan 21st 2008 9:53AM]

Calm down Australia! At least you are infested with koala bears, it is the cutest infestation ever! (Thanks Mitch Hedberg!) You know how much it costs to get one of those koala bears over here, its outrageous. The one's i usually buy are made with shotty cheap parts and they fall apart too easy, :(.

[Cooperx @ Jan 24th 2008 7:17AM]

They may be cute but look at em the wrong way and they will rip your face off.... serious

[adrian @ Jan 21st 2008 10:37AM]

Cheap no name brands are good, for the price, but when things go wrong you are on your own. Another problem is with support or updates, Most of the time you won't get any.

[Yor1001 @ Jan 21st 2008 1:04PM]

Where used to live a video game would cost 200 usd, you australians got it good.

[SteveMB @ Jan 21st 2008 7:19PM]

Mind translating that into English?

[jakem @ Jan 21st 2008 1:39PM]

This doesn't relate to whitegoods but one good reason why TV manufacturers would want to pull out of the Australian market is the previous government's decision to only implement an HD version of DVB-T. No other country in the world chose this version of digital TV and as a result manufacturers have been forced to create TVs and STBs that only work in a country with a tiny population. There's no incentive for them to do this and Australians have already seen long delays with the introduction of this technology.

[Sieger @ Jan 21st 2008 8:46PM]

I am probably wrong but DVB-T is used in alot of countries other than Australia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVB-T#Countries_and_territories_using_DVB-T_.07UNIQ4d20dd275dfc5445-nowiki-0000001C-QINU.074.07UNIQ4d20dd275dfc5445-nowiki-0000001D-QINU.07