Online salesman Ruslan Kogan says big stores are using him as a scapegoat

• Gerry Harvey has called him a "con"

• Says online blamed for stores' failings

• Real issue is "poor performance"

TO big retailers, he is the devil in a hoodie - a fast-talking, in-your-face TV salesman whose online expansion is pinching their customers.

Harvey Norman boss Gerry Harvey has gone so far as to call him a con, reported The Australian.

Yet the way Ruslan Kogan sees the fast emerging world of online retail - and the fierce campaign against it by the likes of Mr Harvey and Myers boss Bernie Brookes - it is the big stores who are having a lend of consumers.

At 28, Melbourne-born Mr Kogan has gone from working out of his mum's garage to rubbing well-tailored shoulders with other entrepreneurs on the BRW rich list . . . all in the space of five years and all from selling self-named televisions and electronic consumer goods online.

He says his success and the success of other e-retailers is now being used as a scapegoat by traditional, bricks and mortar businesses trying to divert attention from their own poor performance. "There is a deliberate ploy to confuse the public," Mr Kogan said yesterday before boarding a flight to Las Vegas.

"They have a plan to make people hold on to shares in failing businesses for as long as possible, and they are looking for a scapegoat. It is always disgusting when you have got businessmen trying to lobby for increased taxes and regulation to stay competitive rather than to innovate."

Mr Kogan says rather than calling for more tax or stiffer regulations, the big retailers should be looking at the inefficiencies within their own businesses - from the huge amounts they pay on rent and staff to cumbersome supply chains.

He said the internet had made consumers far more savvy.

"Now you have the same guy who sells you a toaster trying to sell you an LED and claiming to be an expert in both. People are becoming way too smart for that."

ninemsn.com.au 4 Jan 2011

Major retailers can NEVER say anything else except derogatory remarks against Mr. Kogan, as he is detracting MEGA profits from them.

The likes of:
Myer purchasing shirts for $1, selling them for $10.
JK Kids purchasing jackets for $1 selling them for $49.

are just a few examples named.

For too long the retailers have been profiteering from the general populous. In many instances there has been NO choice except to purchase goods from ONE place.

In the good ol' U.S. of A there can not be a monopoly for that very reason, of detriment to the consumer.

With internet purchasing well established, people are now given the option to find better deals on items.

No longer do the companies see profit margins of 500 - 1000%.

It is a well known fact within the clothes industry in Australia, that profit margins are between 300 - 500%.

Some examples posted on corpau:

A $19 cable sold at JB HiFi for $65:
http://corpau.blogspot.com/2010/11/nokia-ca-53-cable-jb-hifi-ripoff.html

A $1 mouse mat sold at officeworks for $15:
http://corpau.blogspot.com/2010/10/officeworks-mouse-mat.html

$2 Compact Discs sold at Harvey Norman for $10:
http://corpau.blogspot.com/2010/07/harvey-norman-lg-cds.html

are only a DROP in the ocean of how the multinationals are ripping off the consumers.

Very simple:
Poor performance,
means poor sales
which means people are buying ELSEWHERE!

MERRY NEW YEAR TO ALL THE CORPORATE RIP OFF SCUM :-)