The cost of similarly branded clothes between stores

The price differences for the same branded underwear between the stores (i.e. David Jones/Myer vs Kmart/Target/Big W) has got to be one of life's little mysteries.

I was shopping for sports top by a particular brand. For the purposes of this post, let's call the brand T. T has a range of sports tops.

I went to Myer and noticed that the RRP for T's sports tops was $56.95 - $59.95. I then went to KMart and noticed its RRP was $24.95. That's a significant difference! Admittedly, it was a different range, but it was the same brand. Did it warrant such a big price difference?

I think companies create different ranges for the different stores. DJs and Myer target "richer" shoppers. Target, KMart and Big W are more known for their discount prices. So many brands create a more expensive range for DJs and Myer and a budget range for Target/KMart/Big W. It's a bit like Peter Morrissey creating a range of sub-$100 dresses for Big W, when his dresses would normally retail for much more.

So where did I end up buying my sports top?

In an ideal situation, I would have bought them from Kmart on sale, as that would have been the cheapest price between the two stores. But they weren't on sale. So here was my decision-making process:

1. I wanted the sports tops now and it looked like I would have to pay at least $24.95 for them.

2. Myer's tops were reduced to $26.25, making it a difference of $1.30 per top compared to Kmart. I considered this difference to be negligible.

3. Since I already had one T's Kmart sports top at home, I could buy a Myer one to see what the difference was, and if Myer's T range was truly superior to KMart's T range.

4. Hence I bought Myer's T range.