Add Tax to Cart?
2 Min Read
A recent Mashable infographic warns that most of the US public is not too thrilled with the Marketplace Fairness Act (the “Internet Sales Tax” bill that requires online retailers with more than $1mil annual revenue to collect state taxes from all US customers). The graphic reports a number of public sentiments, including the prediction that 44% of consumers will buy less online and more in-store as a result of the bill. But there are simply too many reasons to think otherwise.
1. Price isn’t the primary reason consumers buy online
The convenience of researching products and the anytime-anywhere purchasing power are huge factors, too. People may decide not to buy online for a while as a sort of personal protest, but I think convenience will win out in the end.
2. Smart retailers saw it coming and prepared
As I’ve argued in various interviews about Amazon, Amazon has already factored this into their business plan. They’ve anticipated this kind of bill for a while now and have acted accordingly. For instance, they built distribution centers across the US and began experimenting with attractive new innovations in convenience and distribution such as same day delivery, instore pickup, etc.
3. Ecommerce investments are still on the rise
Furthermore, if Big-box retailers are to blame for getting the new law passed, as the infographic shows, why are companies like Walmart, the ultimate big-box retailer, investing like crazy in ecommerce? Ecommerce is a major force that will continue to grow like for the foreseeable. The internet sales tax will be just a bump in the road for Amazon and other large e-tailers, if that.
Graphic via Mashable, photo via Flickr
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Michael Harvey is COO at Corra. He oversees the agency's delivery team, including project management, analysis, and marketing. Michael's 20+ year career has spanned marketing, branding, strategy, product development, operations, and technology. He has held operational roles at the senior executive level for a variety of entities including both startups and established organizations.
Corra, a Publicis Sapient company, is the global commerce leader and SI helping brands and organizations grow by evaluating, building, and optimizing their digital commerce ecosystems. Our vast experience with composable and headless implementations speeds time-to-value and provides technical freedom to our clients. Our TotalCare managed services program provides gold-standard support, enhancements and ongoing commerce strategy. We are strategic thinkers, accomplished engineers, and award-winning experience designers. We believe outstanding customer experiences can’t exist without flawless technology, and that flawless technology is pointless without beautiful, human-centered design. Our clients are an integral part of our team. Together, we remove the obstacles that are limiting growth and discover new opportunities. We don’t rest until our clients achieve their full potential. Our clients’ KPIs are our KPIs. We have 20 years of experience in commerce technology, but we also know that customer expectations are constantly evolving. For this reason, we’ve built future-proof solutions and refined an agile execution process that helps our clients achieve more with less. As a Publicis Sapient company, Corra joins a global network spanning 20,000 people with 53 offices around the world enabling us to accelerate our clients’ businesses through designing and building the experiences and services their customers demand.
