"Discounting of goods in the retail sector is sending some retailers broke," Harvey said.

"Our shops are busy and there's a lot of activity but it's hard to get the dollars because of price reductions,'' Mr Harvey told AAP.

"There's a lot of discounting, so if you're a very good retailer you got to fix up your mix of business so that you discount the shit out of something to try and pick it out on something else.

"And if you're discounting the shit out of something and you can't pick it up on something else, guess what happens—you go broke.''

Mr Harvey said many retailers, including the big chains, were under huge pressure because of increased competition in a sector fighting it out for the consumer dollar.

"We have always done well out of new technology and the introduction of new flat-panel TV technology will help us, particularly if we can hold margin in the product," a leading Harvey Norman franchisee said.

On Friday, Harvey Norman Chairman Gerry Harvey said that boom times are not far away and that the company is currently gearing up to capitalise on new technology going forward. His comments were made after he announced a 60 per cent lift in profits.

Gerry Harvey said the company had a good last six months and he expected economic conditions to gradually go back to what they were before the global downturn.

"In this current 12-month period, I don't know that you'll see any big increases in retail sales, but I don't see it going backwards,'' Mr Harvey said today. "In two to three years I believe we can be in boom conditions again ... the world is improving as we speak.''

During the past four weeks, senior Harvey Norman executives have met with Samsung, Panasonic, LG and Sony in an effort to identify which products they will initially sell as 3D TV is launched in Australia.

"What is coming is more than a 3D TV. We are now delivering Internet-enabled TV, Skype video and audio conferencing, as well as content that can be accessed via a series of widgets. The big retailers like Harvey Norman always do well with new technology and what we about to deliver for them is a combination of new TV technology as well as improved LED and Plasma display that is housed in very smart TVs," said Mark Leathan, the General Manager of Marketing at Samsung.

On Friday, Harvey Norman announced that it had lifted profits by 59.9 per cent to $158.86 million for the six months ended 31 December. This compares to $99.33 million at the same time last year.

Net profit for its underlying business operations was $171.00 million in the half compared to $123.52 million, up 38.4 per cent.

Harvey Norman is also set to join JB Hi-Fi in expanding its store operations, following a period early in 2009 when the company closed several stores.

Harvey Norman executives said that they are planning on resuming its store roll-out program in 2011 including a joint development with IKEA to build a 72,000 square metre, two-level large format homemaker shopping centre at Springvale in Melbourne.