Andrew Reitzer, the head of the supermarket wholesaler Metcash, was in town last week and noticed something interesting about local consumers.
Where there used to be a clear distinction between high-end and price-savvy consumers, he said, now there has been a merger of the two. A consumer will talk about an upcoming holiday where they plan to stay at a five-star hotel and eat at exclusive restaurants, yet that same person will boast about the cheap airfare they nailed to get there, according to Mr Reitzer.
I’m one of them. I can’t tell enough people about the $49 flight I recently scored to Melbourne, where yes, I’m going to indulge in a bit of the five-star life in the Yarra Valley.
For Metcash, this means it needs to offer both competitive prices for everyday items, and premium and expensive indulgence products.
For WA airline Skywest, the merging consumer and the growth of cheap airfares is a big issue.
That’s not because Skywest wants to join the fray, but because it needs to explain to its customers that $120 is a good fare from Perth to Albany, even though another carrier can fly Perth-Melbourne for less than half that. For Skywest, it’s all about the volume.
The challenge is for the tourism industry is to trumpet loudly the rarities of regional WA so consu-mers overlook $49 fares and enjoy something unique right here, about which they can rave to their mates.
