Beware pass the parcel

Australian garment importers who are well known to Chinese factories are finding some amazing close-out bargains being offered to them at the moment. Since China is such a huge producer there are always going to be a few specials doing the rounds, but right now they have reached epidemic proportions. The reason is that the removal of Chinese import quotas in the US and Europe has lead to too many importing snouts in the tough and a big oversupply of clobber. Both European and American buyers are good at wriggling out of orders, leaving the factories looking elsewhere in the world to job the distressed stock. And that isn't easy. Countries that might take it because of low prices have the disadvantage of having the wrong sized people. The closest sizes to US and Europe are found in Australia, so guess where the close-out parcels are being offered.
A friend of mine who imports t-shirts was offered 350,000 tees recently for US50 cents each. The colours and sizes were okay. He has a standard procedure when he's offered deals like this. He calls for samples and tests them - before trying to sell them - before he places the order. In this case when he washed one of the t-shirt there wasn't much left at the bottom of the Westinghouse. A large had transformed itself into a thick extra small. Needless to say he didn't buy. This parcel had undoubtedly been rejected on shrinkage grounds, not wriggled out of.
The rule is: what ever reason that is given by an Asian factory for the existence of a parcel, and no matter how cheap it is, test first. Then sell. Then buy. Then pray that the samples you tested really came from the parcel. And then pray that your customer won't cancel on you, thus creating a parcel not twice blessed, but twice distressed.

Jobs made in Australia
Philip Endersbee, managing director of Wilderness Wear, sent me the following:
Joe Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock (made in Japan) for 6am. While his coffee pot (made in China) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (made in Hong Kong). He put on a shirt (made in Sri Lanka), designer jeans (Made in Singapore) and tennis shoes (made in Korea). After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet (made in India) he sat down with his calculator (made in Mexico) to see how much he could spend today. After setting his watch (made in Taiwan) to the radio (made in India) he got in his car (made in Germany) and continued his search for a good paying Australian job. At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day, Joe decided to relax for a while. He put on his sandals (made in Brazil) poured himself a glass of wine (made in France) and turned on his TV (made in Indonesia), and then wondered why he hadn't been able to find a good paying job in Australia.

Mark's millions
The good thing about being CEO of David Jones is that you get paid a lot. The bad thing is that everybody knows not only that you get paid a lot, but exactly how much that lot is. Nevertheless I wouldn't mind putting up with a few stickybeaks if my salary, like Mark McInnes's, was fixed at $1.4 million with a good chance of doubling that if the wheels don't fall off. There are other trinkets too, like shares and an occasional hamper of just-past-use-bys from the food hall.
Now you're thinking that I'm going to take a poke at Mark and David Jones for accepting and paying so much loot, not a bit of it. Mazel Tov to both of them! David Jones is owned in Australia by Australians. Mark McInnes is Australian and sounds Australian. The Australian board members think he's worth all those Australian dollars. They didn't go roaming around the world, like so many of our big public companies do, to import a CEO because they don't think we have the talent here.

Whose store Myer?
You read it here recently, although plenty of other people thought it too, that Coles Myer is cooking up a divorce. After a second half Myer loss, John Fletcher is using the term "demerger" to precede a sale - if anybody gullible enough can be found to take on 61 department stores with a pronounced limp.
I feel sorry for Dawn Robertson who did her best to nurse back to health an already sick business. She had the disadvantage of being the latest in a succession of US department store executives who have come here to be given a well paid but dead-end job. Of course, if somebody buys she might stay. Pigs might also fly.
One of the problems of importing US retailers is that they come into a market that looks deceptively like the US market. It takes a couple of years for them to discover that while it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck it's actually a chicken. The taste level is different, the climate skews fashion trends and the public has now lost all sense of value.
The middle market has been decimated, and that's just where department stores operate.
Maybe Naomi Milgrom could have saved the Myer department stores - maybe. Anyway that's history. We're left with Dawn who doubtless has had a gutful.
The next phase is the demerger. After the accountants and lawyers have executed the divorce, who is going to take on the Myer Emporium? I've always thought Sol Lew might have a go but now I'm not so sure. Apart from David Jones
Stoking the Coles
While the Coles side of the Coles Myer divorce is dabbing away remorseful tears, there is consolation mooted by some crafty plans for Coles supermarkets to tweak their clothing content. Besides the established apparel mangers Dom Boffa and Virginia Tamis, there is a new arrival in the person of Beverley Chambers, recently of Marks and Spencer in the UK. Apparently Coles wants to develop a super budget range of clothing to slither beneath K Mart and Target. Best & Less knows about it, I hear, and is getting ready for a bit or a stoush on the cold concrete of bottom price where one must indulge in direct importing and not have more than one biscuit for morning tea.
Coles already runs basics like hosiery, nickers, bras and an occasional wave of flannelette shirts and tees, but it has not ventured much into outerwear. This is about to change.
There is now a pecking order among the budget champs. In descending order it goes: Target, K Mart, Big W, Best & Less, and now an emerging Coles. Lowes rules the bottom end of pure menswear. Of course there are subterranean direct factory outlets, but that's another story.