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.
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.
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.
Online shoppers forced go pirateMichelle Griffin January 8, 2011 The Age
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. 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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
