Big box stores like Walmart and Target are backing a group called Alliance for Main Street Fairness, which is spearheading efforts to change sales-tax laws in over a dozen states, including Texas and California. Originally organized by mom-and-pop stores, the Alliance now has the backing of Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy Co., Home Depot Inc. and Sears Holdings Corp.
Their biggest strawman enemy is Amazon, which they characterize as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the 1992 Supreme Court decision, Quill v. North Dakota, which ruled that retailers are exempt from collecting sales taxes in states where they have no physical presence, or "nexus," such as a store, office, or warehouse. This has been the law of the land for nearly two decades now, so it is really the Alliance that is causing the fuss, not Amazon. And of course states, heavily in the red, are desperate for any new source of revenue they can conjure. (We should note that consumers are technically required to file a "use tax" payment in lieu of sales taxes when they make purchases from eCommerce companies without a nexus in the state; don't hold your breath waiting for states to try to enforce that "flip side" of the Supreme Court decision...).
Last October, Texas sent a $269 million bill to Amazon for four years’ worth of taxes, citing Amazon’s Texas warehouse, which is owned by a subsidiary (presumably one that is independent of the parent company). In South Carolina, Gov. Nikki Haley is reconsidering an arrangement by her predecessor to allow Amazon to set up a warehouse in the state but exempt it from collecting sales taxes. After all, the wage taxes paid by employees is a major incentive to the state to forego the sales tax revenue.
Last week, Illinois passed a law forcing online retailers to collect sales tax if they have local affiliates in the state. New York, Rhode Island and North Carolina have adopted similar laws, and New Mexico, Minnesota and Vermont are considering such legislation. After Amazon threatened to terminate its affiliate programs in California and Hawaii, governors in both states vetoed similar bills. The California Legislature is trying again.
Amazon is standing firm, saying it will terminate relationships with affiliates in states that pass laws that contradict Quill V. North Dakota.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Volusion Affiliate Program
Volusion, one of the more successful and feature-rich eCommerce platforms, currently has more than 20,000 online business owners using it for their online store (including the likes of Disney, 3M, Motorola, and National Geographic). To encourage even more users on their new Vers. 11, the company has set up an Affiliate referral program that offers commissions on referrals to this very affordable platform. For more information, contact Radhika Roy at 800-646-3517 ext 734 or Radhika_Roy(at)volusion.com.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Demandware Extends Product Content Management Capabilities for Multi-Channel Retailers
Demandware, Inc., a leader in on-demand eCommerce, has announced new enhanced product content management capabilities in the Demandware Commerce platform that will make it easier for merchants to prepare and deliver product information and branded consumer experiences across multiple channels, applications and devices.
The new functionality, available in the Spring 11 release of Demandware Commerce, lets retailers centrally manage large product catalogs and dynamic images across multiple product catalogs, eCommerce sites and channels, including call center, mobile and store.
According to Demandware, this centralized control significantly increases the accuracy and efficiency of synchronizing product data across channels. In addition, all Demandware clients will receive new functionality in the summer 2011 timeframe that will further redefine how merchants manage product information through the use of personal dashboards, work queues, and a flexible collaboration framework for preparing and publishing information that meets each retailer's unique processes and requirements.
Delivering relevant, on-brand product content is critical to retaining today's Web-centric multi-channel consumer, according to a study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Demandware in February 2011, which found that 67 percent of consumers who are dissatisfied with a shopping experience online will have an overall negative perception of the retailer, and 72 percent of consumers will relay the bad online shopping experience to friends.
The new enhanced product content management functionality in Demandware Commerce supports Demandware's corporate initiative of expanding beyond eCommerce to "digital commerce management," a unified solution that enables retailers to manage all direct-to-consumer processes from a single web platform. For retailers and high-growth brands, digital commerce management eliminates the complexity of integrating multiple technologies and enables personalized, branded consumer experiences across all consumer touch points, including eCommerce, social networks, mobile commerce, call centers, and stores.
New and Enhanced Multi-Channel Product Content Management
Building on the extensive product content management capabilities already in Demandware Commerce, the Spring 11 release now includes:
Enhanced Product and Catalog Management: The new features provide greater efficiency and control over the development, management and syndication of critical product content, including bulk product editing for product pricing; advanced search behavior to find and edit products, catalog inheritance, site and channel-specific product attribution, and enhanced roles and responsibilities to better manage content.
New Dynamic Image Management: Demandware's new image service enables the dynamic resizing of images from a single high resolution master image for use across every channel and end-user device. This eliminates the need to maintain multiple sizes, types and qualities of single images, resulting in considerable efficiencies and cost savings for image management. This service supports scaling an image, cutting or cropping an area from a larger image, overlaying another image for promotional purposes and sharpening as an optional step before the final image is generated, along with multiple output formats and qualities.
New Merchant Collaboration Framework for Developing and Delivering Multi-Channel Product Content
In the summer 2011 timeframe, Demandware will automatically upgrade all clients to new collaborative content management capabilities that transform how web merchants manage the day-to-day tasks of development, review and delivery of product content across channels. Moving far beyond today's workflow-based solutions, these new capabilities will empower merchants to manage product content for multiple commerce channels easily from one central environment and syndicate that content across all channels, applications and devices. The following new functionality will be available to clients through Demandware's automatic upgrade process.
Personal Dashboards: Each user will be able to control her own unique work environment with real-time access to common product or catalog lists, active and streaming top-selling items, promotional calendars, revenue reports and more. Users will be able to configure the dashboards to ensure a work environment that allows daily tasks to be performed faster.
Flexible Work Queues: Users will be able to create daily task lists to manage workload efficiency. Merchandisers will be able to create dynamic and static product lists to bulk edit, review and publish across multiple sites, in multiple languages and via multiple channels. As a merchandiser works through the queue, completed tasks flow out of the queue and into the next phase of the process. Unlike rigid approval workflows, the work queues are flexible and will accommodate the unique needs of retailers of different sizes and sophistication.
Cross-Team Collaboration: Merchandisers will be able to collaborate easily with other team members by sharing existing static and dynamic work queues across the organization. Team members will be able to collaborate on common tasks, view progress reports and easily educate one another across web, store and service teams.
"Great consumer experiences are built upon rich and complete product content that's relevant to the consumer and on-mark for the brand. With this latest release, our clients now have the ability to reach deeper into their organizations for product information, collaborate more effectively across teams and deliver to consumers shopping experiences as rich as the brand itself," said Jamus Driscoll, vice president of marketing for Demandware.
The new functionality, available in the Spring 11 release of Demandware Commerce, lets retailers centrally manage large product catalogs and dynamic images across multiple product catalogs, eCommerce sites and channels, including call center, mobile and store.
According to Demandware, this centralized control significantly increases the accuracy and efficiency of synchronizing product data across channels. In addition, all Demandware clients will receive new functionality in the summer 2011 timeframe that will further redefine how merchants manage product information through the use of personal dashboards, work queues, and a flexible collaboration framework for preparing and publishing information that meets each retailer's unique processes and requirements.
Delivering relevant, on-brand product content is critical to retaining today's Web-centric multi-channel consumer, according to a study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Demandware in February 2011, which found that 67 percent of consumers who are dissatisfied with a shopping experience online will have an overall negative perception of the retailer, and 72 percent of consumers will relay the bad online shopping experience to friends.
The new enhanced product content management functionality in Demandware Commerce supports Demandware's corporate initiative of expanding beyond eCommerce to "digital commerce management," a unified solution that enables retailers to manage all direct-to-consumer processes from a single web platform. For retailers and high-growth brands, digital commerce management eliminates the complexity of integrating multiple technologies and enables personalized, branded consumer experiences across all consumer touch points, including eCommerce, social networks, mobile commerce, call centers, and stores.
New and Enhanced Multi-Channel Product Content Management
Building on the extensive product content management capabilities already in Demandware Commerce, the Spring 11 release now includes:
Enhanced Product and Catalog Management: The new features provide greater efficiency and control over the development, management and syndication of critical product content, including bulk product editing for product pricing; advanced search behavior to find and edit products, catalog inheritance, site and channel-specific product attribution, and enhanced roles and responsibilities to better manage content.
New Dynamic Image Management: Demandware's new image service enables the dynamic resizing of images from a single high resolution master image for use across every channel and end-user device. This eliminates the need to maintain multiple sizes, types and qualities of single images, resulting in considerable efficiencies and cost savings for image management. This service supports scaling an image, cutting or cropping an area from a larger image, overlaying another image for promotional purposes and sharpening as an optional step before the final image is generated, along with multiple output formats and qualities.
New Merchant Collaboration Framework for Developing and Delivering Multi-Channel Product Content
In the summer 2011 timeframe, Demandware will automatically upgrade all clients to new collaborative content management capabilities that transform how web merchants manage the day-to-day tasks of development, review and delivery of product content across channels. Moving far beyond today's workflow-based solutions, these new capabilities will empower merchants to manage product content for multiple commerce channels easily from one central environment and syndicate that content across all channels, applications and devices. The following new functionality will be available to clients through Demandware's automatic upgrade process.
Personal Dashboards: Each user will be able to control her own unique work environment with real-time access to common product or catalog lists, active and streaming top-selling items, promotional calendars, revenue reports and more. Users will be able to configure the dashboards to ensure a work environment that allows daily tasks to be performed faster.
Flexible Work Queues: Users will be able to create daily task lists to manage workload efficiency. Merchandisers will be able to create dynamic and static product lists to bulk edit, review and publish across multiple sites, in multiple languages and via multiple channels. As a merchandiser works through the queue, completed tasks flow out of the queue and into the next phase of the process. Unlike rigid approval workflows, the work queues are flexible and will accommodate the unique needs of retailers of different sizes and sophistication.
Cross-Team Collaboration: Merchandisers will be able to collaborate easily with other team members by sharing existing static and dynamic work queues across the organization. Team members will be able to collaborate on common tasks, view progress reports and easily educate one another across web, store and service teams.
"Great consumer experiences are built upon rich and complete product content that's relevant to the consumer and on-mark for the brand. With this latest release, our clients now have the ability to reach deeper into their organizations for product information, collaborate more effectively across teams and deliver to consumers shopping experiences as rich as the brand itself," said Jamus Driscoll, vice president of marketing for Demandware.
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
DemandTec to Acquire M-Factor
DemandTec, "the Collaborative Optimization Network for Retailers and Consumer Product Companies" and provider of retail planning software and analytical services, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held M-Factor, a provider of predictive analytics software for marketing mix and trade investment spending.
This transaction has been approved by DemandTec's board of directors and is subject to customary closing conditions.
Through this acquisition, DemandTec's hopes to establish a more collaborative approach to marketing and trade planning to help consumer products companies better and more strategically manage marketing investments, trade strategies, pricing, assortment, and promotion plans in a way that more effectively addresses changing market conditions, consumer buying trends, and optimization of marketing funds between social media and advertising vehicles.
See also DemandTec Acquires Assets of Applied Intelligence Solutions.
This transaction has been approved by DemandTec's board of directors and is subject to customary closing conditions.
Through this acquisition, DemandTec's hopes to establish a more collaborative approach to marketing and trade planning to help consumer products companies better and more strategically manage marketing investments, trade strategies, pricing, assortment, and promotion plans in a way that more effectively addresses changing market conditions, consumer buying trends, and optimization of marketing funds between social media and advertising vehicles.
See also DemandTec Acquires Assets of Applied Intelligence Solutions.
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Merchants Prefer mCommece Sites to Apps
Speaking on March 2 at the NEMOA Spring Conference in Boston, Bernardine Wu, founder/CEO of ecommerce consultancy FitForCommerce, said that merchants are approaching Mobile Commerce with mCommerce optimized Websites rather than SmartPhone apps, according to Multichannel Merchant magazine.
Maintaining a single mCommerce site is easier than setting up apps for multiple phone types, and "app saturation" makes the likelihood of a consumer downloading yet another app less likely, Wu suggests. Apps are useful, however, if a merchant has a specific reason for it, such as offering a game, a configuration tool, or some kind of entertainment.
Maintaining a single mCommerce site is easier than setting up apps for multiple phone types, and "app saturation" makes the likelihood of a consumer downloading yet another app less likely, Wu suggests. Apps are useful, however, if a merchant has a specific reason for it, such as offering a game, a configuration tool, or some kind of entertainment.
Facebook Comments Box Feed on 3rd-Party Sites
Facebook has announced an update to its Comments Box plug-in that allows third-party Websites to add Facebook’s comment boards to their own pages via a single line of code. The feature uses “social signals” to more prominently display comments posted by the consumer’s Facebook friends or friends of friends as well as the most popular or active discussion threads. (Facebook says it will hide comments marked as spam.)
Facebook’s default setting will also post discussions started on third-party sites on the commenter's Facebook wall if the consumer is logged onto Facebook. The commenter’s friends will see the post on their news feeds that shows the comment, and the post will include a link to the site where the original consumer posted the comment.
Click HERE for a very detailed explanation of this new feature on the MSNBC website.
Facebook’s default setting will also post discussions started on third-party sites on the commenter's Facebook wall if the consumer is logged onto Facebook. The commenter’s friends will see the post on their news feeds that shows the comment, and the post will include a link to the site where the original consumer posted the comment.
Click HERE for a very detailed explanation of this new feature on the MSNBC website.
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
MyBuys Announces Free Mobile Platform Challenge
MyBuys, a leading provider of personalization for multi-channel retailers, direct brands, and digital agencies, has announced the MyBuys Mobile Challenge, which lets retailers test the performance of their mobile platform for free.
MyBuys will invest the costs and consulting needed to create a fully optimized, personalized Mobile Website to test head-to-head against any current mobile eCommerce site. If the MyBuys Mobile site doesn't perform better, no fees are charged for implementing the site test.
MyBuys Mobile uses real-time analysis of customer online behavior to personalize the shopping experience for every individual across the most popular mobile devices, including iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and iPad.
"In 2010, consumers purchased more than $3.2 billion in goods through the mobile channel-almost two and a half times the level of 2009," said Robert Cell, CEO MyBuys. "Yet, 85% of retailers have not yet created a mobile site. MyBuys is the only company to utilize Personalized Navigation, as consumers do not want to type search queries nor drill down endless categories to find things on their phones. Consumers will go to the best site that predicts what they want. MyBuys Mobile has increased mobile revenue by over 100% in every implementation thus far. We are so confident that the MyBuys' Mobile Challenge will prove to retailers that personalization is the key to improved performance and results that we are willing to put our money where our marketing is."
For details on the MyBuys Mobile Challenge, go to www.MyBuys.com/Challenge.
MyBuys will invest the costs and consulting needed to create a fully optimized, personalized Mobile Website to test head-to-head against any current mobile eCommerce site. If the MyBuys Mobile site doesn't perform better, no fees are charged for implementing the site test.
MyBuys Mobile uses real-time analysis of customer online behavior to personalize the shopping experience for every individual across the most popular mobile devices, including iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and iPad.
"In 2010, consumers purchased more than $3.2 billion in goods through the mobile channel-almost two and a half times the level of 2009," said Robert Cell, CEO MyBuys. "Yet, 85% of retailers have not yet created a mobile site. MyBuys is the only company to utilize Personalized Navigation, as consumers do not want to type search queries nor drill down endless categories to find things on their phones. Consumers will go to the best site that predicts what they want. MyBuys Mobile has increased mobile revenue by over 100% in every implementation thus far. We are so confident that the MyBuys' Mobile Challenge will prove to retailers that personalization is the key to improved performance and results that we are willing to put our money where our marketing is."
For details on the MyBuys Mobile Challenge, go to www.MyBuys.com/Challenge.
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