Despite a growing number of Australians purchasing goods over the internet, he says online retailing is “a complete waste of time”.
“I’ve got an online part of my business, but I definitely would not put more into it. That’d be a recipe for a disaster.”
“Online people do not make any money,” Harvey also told SmartCompany. “The whole world was conned with online retailing. People say I’m a dinosaur, and I’ve had people coming to me with sites and saying, ‘Oh, look at this, they have 10,000 or 20,000 hits!’ – but it’s a con, a complete con.”
Over 57.9% of Christmas shoppers say they will use the internet to research and compare products, new Australian Retailers Association research says. But Harvey says online retailing is still “a waste of time”.
“Go and check and find out who is making money in the online selling business that you can say is worthwhile. You give me a list of 10 online retailers that are making money, and then we’ll talk. Not just $200,000 or $300,000, but real money.
“Sure, it has a future, but the problem is it costs a lot of money to do it properly. There’s an awful lot trying, though. If you said to me in 50 years will people be successful, then yeah, but mostly not now.”