Digiworld
224 La Trobe St
Melbourne, VIC 3000
Tel: (03) 9663 6699
Fax: (03) 9663 6696

I had been on the hunt for a new computer for quite a while, and finally had the opportunity to purchase it. I was looking for either a Dell, or Asus. Ausus is a good brand, but a little bit expensive but they are a quality manufacturer, and they offer 2 years international warranty on all their laptops. Here are the specs I wanted:
* Pentium Dual Core
* 4G Ram
* Windows Vista
* Wireless card
* At least 250G hard drive
* At least a 15.1″ screen

Pretty basic specs really. I found a computer at Digiworld after doing considerable research. I didn’t know about this shop until I scoured La Trobe Street, which is where Landmark Computers was – my initial shopping place.

Friday the 13th
I was up for almost 20 hours since I began my night shift at work, and heard about Harvey Norman’s Friday the 13th sale. “Millions of dollars off all electrical items” the radio screamed at me on my way home from work. Anyway, ignoring the radio’s advice (I listen to TV more!), I visited Landmark Computers in La Trobe street. I was greeted by an Indian chap, seemed to be the boss of the store. He showed off his arrogant characteristic during his explanation of the sale.

I know a reasonable amount when it comes to computers, and have a few buddies who are in the industry. However, it’s always nice to pretend “basic customer”, and I was taken for a ride. The guy at Landmark Computers basically told me I was not going to get the specs for the budget of $1300, and that I was free to look around. He diverted me to an Asus with poorer specs that I had wanted, but threw in a free laptop bag to get my attention.

I left the store, and told him I will come back if I don’t see anything better.

Digiworld
My next stop was Digiworld located opposite Melbourne Central. They did not have a range of laptops but had the one I wanted. It was an Asus, with a full spec keyboard along with 16.1″ display, but only a 250Gig HD and 2 Gig RAM. You see, I am a greedy person (aren’t we all – LOL) so I wanted to see how much I can squeeze out of the sales person. Over the course of the past year, I have made reasonably big purchases, so knew a thing or not about bargaining. However, rather than try and get a better price, I generally try and get a better product for the same price. There is a difference.

I told the sales person that I am really interested in the laptop, and that I wanted to buy it today by 4pm and pay straight cash for the purchase. That got his attention, but I also made it clear the offer must be better than the displayed price. My eBay search revealed the same laptop for around $1300 with similar specs. The advertised price was: $1370.

I told him, I am going to Harvey Norman as they are having a “massive sale”, and if I found something similar with better value then I will not come back to Digiworld. It frightened him a little, however I felt he kept his calm and allowed me to leave the store.

Harvey Norman
I made my way to Harvey Norman. Let’s face it, Harvey Norman for electricals is a bit of a rip off in my opinion and there is no bargaining power in major department stores. I saw many computers in Harvey Norman, but couldn’t find anything close to the price being offered at Digiworld with similar specs. Harvey Norman was at least $300-$500 more expensive on comparable products.

The Strategy
I walked back into Digiworld, and told the guy: “Okay, I found an excellent deal at Harvey Norman, a bit more expensive but much better specs. So I would like the following: Price: $1300, Specs improvement: 4 Gig RAM upgrade, 320Gig HD upgrade, free 17″ laptop bag”.

His first response was, “You must be kidding me”. I had asked for a better laptop, for lesser money, and a free laptop bag. At that stage I was thinking perhaps I had pushed it “too far” this time, but let’s see what happened. After about 20 minutes with the sales person going back and forth to speak to his manager, the price slowly dropped: $1350, $1330, then bingo: $1300. He promptly accepted the sale and I was on my way.

If the sales person who remembers this sale is reading this, sorry mate – it’s business, nothing personal!