Ruslan Kogan, founder of consumer electronics brand Kogan, wants a divorce. From retail, that is.
Citing “irreconcilable differences", Kogan sees issues with online retailers such as his own being “married” with traditional retail by economists.
Kogan feels that if booming online retails have to be grouped with sluggish traditional retailers, then he wants a “divorce".
“They must stop grouping online retail under the same banner as traditional retail, because we are fundamentally different,” Kogan.
“Online retailers innovate where big bricks and mortar retailers are spending their time trying to pressure the Government for increased protectionism.”
Some of the irreconcilable differences between online and traditional retail include traditional wanting to raise taxes when online wants open competition, traditional wanting margins when online aims to please its customers, and traditional slowing down while online is speeding up.
“The Australian public has already realised the massive benefits and difference between shopping online and walking into a traditional retailer,” Kogan said.
“It's time the industry pundits and so-called experts start doing the same.”
Kogan adds that just because consumer spending at retail stores might be down, “it doesn't mean consumer spending as a whole is down, as we're certainly seeing big online retailers like Kogan bucking the latest trends.”
As the Internet continues to go from strength to strength in retailing, Kogan hopes that one day online retail won’t be treated as part of the same family as traditional.
Earlier in the year, Kogan launched production-linked pricing service to help customers save up to 50 per cent and cut out hidden investors.
