Monday 31 January 2011

LivingSocial: We're set to overtake Groupon (Q&A) | Geek Gestalt - CNET News


Last week, word of a great offer began to make its way around the Internet. I first heard about the offer--a $20 Amazon gift card for $10--on an e-mail list. Then I saw it on The Huffington Post. Then it started showing up on Twitter. Every few seconds, it seemed, someone new would tweet about it. It was all over Facebook, and people were blogging about it left and right.
LivingSocial: We're set to overtake Groupon (Q&A) | Geek Gestalt - CNET News
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Australian Retail's Slide into Complacency | BNET


Thanks to the Internet, Australia’s largest retailers are being exposed to even larger competitors with bigger buying power. Maybe it’ll be the wake-up call to jolt them out of a world of cosy deals and face the rest of the world head on.
Australian Retail's Slide into Complacency | BNET
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Monday 10 January 2011

Gillard reluctant to slam online shoppers with tax


Gillard reluctant to slam online shoppers with tax January 10, 2011 - 2:55PM -Australians who hunt for bargains while shopping online should be allowed to continue doing so, Prime Minister Julia Gillard says.She says the government will wait for the outcome of a Productivity Commission inquiry before formally responding to a push by big retailers to impose the goods and services tax on online purchases from overseas.
Gillard reluctant to slam online shoppers with tax
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Saturday 8 January 2011

Online shoppers forced go pirate



Online shoppers forced go pirate
Michelle Griffin January 8, 2011 The Age

'Publishers who think they are protecting their markets are mistaken.'

IT’S NOT just price point that is driving Australians in droves to the internet sales. It’s information. We know what we want, and we don’t know why we have to wait until a local distributor decides to stock it. This is especially true of our cultural purchases: music, television programs, films and books.
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Trading web is winning big business



Online Retail for those who have got it right is booming, read this article:
Trading web is winning big business  -Chris Johnston January 8, 2011
Gabby Leibovich (right), with brother Hezi.

Gabby Leibovich (right), with brother Hezi. Photo: Michael Clayton-Jones

GABBY Leibovich says he sometimes wonders if the Melbourne-based online empire he has built from nothing with his brother Hezi is real - and that it is true he runs a juggernaut internet shop worth perhaps $A100 million this financial year. (Click below to see the article)

Trading web is winning big business
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Online retail is the way of the future



Australians should embrace the benefits of shopping on the web.THE federal government should not do anything that threatens the growth of online retailing.Online sales represent the future of Australian retailing and offer considerable benefits to sellers and consumers. Australian retailers should be fully embracing online retailing rather than being critical of its growth or solely targeting the GST issue.
Online retail is the way of the future
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Thursday 6 January 2011

Offshore sites may cost local retailers | Perth Now


RETAILERS risk prosecution if they shift e-commerce sites offshore to avoid import duties and GST, tax lawyers have warned.Myer plans to start selling tax-free merchandise through a Hong Kong-based website next month, to compete against foreign retailers who can mail goods worth less than $1000 to Australian customers tax-free.But the Taxation Institute of Australia warned yesterday that the Australian Taxation Office could intervene if it suspected any retailers were avoiding tax."There are powerful general anti-avoidance provisions (in the tax act) that need to be complied with," the institute's senior tax counsel, Robert Jeremenko, said yesterday, without commenting specifically on the Myer case.
Offshore sites may cost local retailers | Perth Now
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Expert doubts GST could be imposed | Perth Now



A TAX expert doubts whether the federal government will be able to find a cost-effective way to collect GST on goods purchased online from overseas websites.A group of big retailers, including Myer, David Jones and Harvey Norman, wants an end to the GST exemption for imported goods worth less than $1000.The government is not moved by their argument saying a tax on consumers is not the best way of competing with overseas online retailers.
Expert doubts GST could be imposed | Perth Now
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Twitter bitter on Harvey's GST plea | Courier Mail



THE backlash against retailing magnate Gerry Harvey continues to grow, with his push to have the GST applied to online purchases from overseas retailers now the number one trending topic on social networking site Twitter.Mr Harvey, who is the public face of a group of major retailers which have mounted a $200,000 media campaign arguing for a ’’level playing field’’ on the GST, has also become the target of almost unprecedented consumer vitriol.‘’Dear Gerry Harvey, I'm so sorry to hear of your hardship. I'd slip you a few bucks, but I'm still paying off my son's OVERPRICED LAPTOP. Soz,’’ went one Twitter post.
Twitter bitter on Harvey's GST plea | Courier Mail
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Why good retailers will survive the internet | Article | The Punch


Why good retailers will survive the internet 06 Jan 05:50am
Change and innovation are always feared, and therefore always resisted.   When the first ATMs were introduced, the banking unions fought against them because they feared it would mean the end of tellers (who can forget the lines we used to endure at banks in the bad old days). Instead, we saw the rise of electronic banking with the banks now involved in almost every transaction. When the video player was first introduced, film industry experts predicted the end of cinemas, but today we are seeing a resurgence in cinema attendance numbers because the industry was forced to become more innovative, and now delivers a significantly enhanced customer experience via new developments such as 3D.
Why good retailers will survive the internet | Article | The Punch
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