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Santa Shopped Online This Year
An anonymous reader writes "ZDNet is reporting on another blockbuster year for online shopping. Online shopping was up almost 30 percent over last year." From the article: " Clothing was the top seller in terms of dollar amount, at $5.3 billion total, up 42 percent from last year's revenue, the report said. Computer hardware and peripherals showed the most growth, 126 percent, at $4.8 billion. Consumer electronics was the second fastest growing category, garnering $4.8 billion, up 109 percent. People spent $3 billion on books online, up 66 percent, and $2.3 billion on products in the toys/video games category of hardware and software, a drop of 9 percent from last year, the study found. "
They really are trying to...
It really is hard to get past the fact that it's unconstitutional, though.
Even if you know your correct size not all clothing sizes are equal. They can differ among different brands, and even different lines of clothes manufactured under the same brand name. Clothing is something that you really have to try on before you can be sure about making a purchase. Unless you are "wasting" tons of money on sales tax for over-priced designer clothes, I really don't see the benefit of purchasing clothing online instead of at your local department store. In fact, the only reason I buy electronics online is because I usually save a decent amount of sales tax (though it is sometimes offset by the shipping price) and the only stores local to me are Walmart and Office Depot, neither of which has a stellar selection of electronics / computer equipment. The closest "real" electronics stores are Best Buy and Circuit City, both over 2 hours away and still don't have as good a selection as the online stores. I would much rather spend a little extra to get it today, but sometimes that option just isn't available.
1 of my 3 businesses was closed partially due to sales tax inequities, but I can't go into details right now due to legal reasons.
It was our best year, yes -- the first 7 months were record setting, the last 5 months were the worst in history. Katrina, gas prices, and overall recessionary valleys lead us to make the choice to downsize and regroup for 2007.
I'm not pissed that we pay taxes and dotcoms don't -- I don't think anyone should. I would hate to see online purchases taxed. Taxes decrease purchases -- watch Chicago lose even more money after adding a 70 cent/pack cigarette tax today.
I don't want to deal with skimming the law, I just want to provide what the customer wants at a price that is reasonable to me, as well. This is no longer the case. Both my retail industries are conglomerating in order to overcome a very high cost of doing business (again, due to government regulations and restrictions). When my 9 suppliers turn into 3, I lose the power to purchase cheaply. Heck, even "free trade" Bush is killing me by keeping T-shirt and cotton tariffs high, but allowing some large retailers to work around it.
As for the item that we sell for a high margin, they're very cheap items -- $4 - $6 retail. Normally we sell thousands of them a month, but the dotcoms just give them away at a loss. Very competitive, and I cheer their business sense, but I just can't do it, and I can't give up a key element to paying my overhead and pay.