Shopping habits in Western Sydney are changing, like everywhere else. News that Cue is closing its Westfield Parramatta store is a reminder that retail never stands still. Meanwhile, more local shoppers are doing some of their buying somewhere they never used to American websites.
It is not about abandoning local shops. It is about finding things they simply cannot get here.
What is drawing shoppers to American sites
The first reason is range. The US market is many times bigger than ours, so American stores carry sizes, colours, brands and products that never make it to Australian shelves. That matters if you wear a hard-to-find size, collect something niche, or want a brand with no local stockist.
The second is price. Plenty of goods cost less in the US to begin with, and American sales are frequent and deep.
The third is timing. Black Friday started in America, and it is still where many of the biggest discounts appear. This year it falls on 27 November, with Cyber Monday straight after.
The catch: many stores won’t post here
Anyone who has tried knows the moment. You find exactly what you want, get to the checkout, and discover the store only delivers within the United States.
That is where a forwarding service comes in. Services offering parcel forwarding from the US to Australia give you your own American address. You shop as if you lived there, the store delivers to that address, and your order is sent on to you in Australia.
Stackry is one of the long-established services. It can also combine orders from several different stores into a single box, which is where the real saving is. Paying international postage once instead of three or four times makes a big difference.
What it costs
GST is not avoided. On orders under A$1,000, the 10 per cent GST is collected before your parcel leaves the warehouse, so there is no surprise bill when it arrives. Stackry is based in New Hampshire, which has no state sales tax, so nothing extra is added at the American end.
Each shipment to Australia has a value limit of around A$1,000. A bigger Black Friday haul can simply go in two boxes.
Plan it now, not in November
The shoppers who do best on Black Friday plan ahead. International parcels take a few weeks to arrive, so buying during the late November sales still leaves time for Christmas, but not much to spare.
Sign up for an address now, make a list of the stores and items you are watching, and check whether each one ships to Australia. On the day, you can buy with confidence instead of scrambling.
The mall is not going anywhere
Most shopping will still happen close to home, and local stores offer things no website can, from trying things on to expert advice. But for the item you cannot find here, or the deal that only exists in America, buying straight from the US is now just another option in the modern shopper’s toolkit.
The above article is paid content, and any information presented should be independently verified before making any decisions as a result of the content. This article does not constitute advice of any kind, nor does it represent the opinions of the website publisher.