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The calendar only reads July 21 but should retailers be concerned that the back-to-school shopping season this year is going to be a bust?  Maybe so.

A survey by the National Retail Federation (NRF), conducted by BIGresearch earlier this month, reveals that consumers will likely reign in spending on school supplies in 2011–families with kids between kindergarten and grade 12 are expected to spend roughly $603.63 during the back-to-school season, which would be a decrease of 0.5 percent from last year.

Total spending for the retail industry’s second most-important shopping period of the year, for K-12 and college combined, is expected to total about $68.8 billion.

Still, high prices at the gas pump combined with continued record unemployment around the country seem to have already hurt the prospects for a bigger back-to-school season.  As a result, shoppers are going to be looking for deals wherever they can find them and retailers that hope to survive will need to oblige.

“Families aren’t opposed to spending on what they need, but parents want their children to take a good look around at what they already have before deciding what to buy for back to school this year,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay in a statement.  “Retailers understand consumers are extremely focused on value and are taking this opportunity to offer substantial savings on merchandise.”

The survey polled 8,694 shoppers in early July.  Highlights from the data include:

–57 percent of respondents will shop at department stores, targeting private label brands that are often a cheaper alternative;

–Electronics won’t be nearly as sought-after this year, with slightly more than half of those polled planning to buy them, down from 63. 7 percent in 2010;

–With 43.7 percent of respondents saying the economy will force them to spend less in general, 39.9 percent will be looking for store-brand or generic items and 50 percent will be shopping for sales;

–The web will once again be a haven for back-to-school shoppers; 31.7 percent will go online in 2011 (up slightly from 30.8 percent a year ago) and 29.8 percent will use online comparison shopping resources;

–Average spending on clothing ($220.60) and school supplies ($88.99) will slightly decrease this year, while families will spend an average of $104.53 on shoes, a slight increase over last year;

–A majority of those polled (68.4 percent) said they plan to make at least one purchase from a discount store, while clothing stores (48.7 percent), office supply stores (38 percent) and electronics stores (21.7 percent) should also be good for at least one purchase as well.

The results overall tend to mirror similar (and earlier) assessments of the 2011 back-to-school shopping season.  While the numbers don’t seem too bad per se, the estimates certainly fall short of what many in the retail and e-commerce industries have to be hoping for as the summer starts to wind down.  Only time will tell if actual sales equal, fall short, or exceed the expectations put forth by the NRF and others.

As always, leave us your thoughts and comments!

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With gas prices on the rise, thus curtailing trips to the mall, e-commerce sales posted a fifth consecutive month of double-digit growth in March according the latest MasterCard SpendingPulse report that was issued today.

Online retail sales increased 16.1 percent last month compared to March of 2010, building on the 13.2 percent year over year growth that MasterCard reported for February.

“Most retail sectors continued to record solid growth year-over-year, similar to February, although we’re not seeing an acceleration of momentum from February to March,” said Michael McNamara, vice president, research and analysis for MasterCard Advisors.  “The lack of increased momentum in some sectors could be due to calendar shifts, given that Easter falls very late this year.”

Leading the spending charge was the online apparel category, which saw an 18.7 percent year over year increase in spending.  It marked the 16th consecutive month of growth for online apparel sales.  Total apparel sales, including  those in brick and mortar storefronts, was up 4.4 percent as well, to be expected as a new season begins and shoppers start looking to update and expand their wardrobes. Footwear was the only sub-sector within the apparel category not to post strong gains in March.

MasterCard’s report also showed a decent March for traditional retailers in other categories and sectors as well.

The furniture industry for example, one that we don’t usually address with these kinds of reports, posted a decent increase of 2.4 percent, its 5th consecutive month of posting gains.

Meanwhile, the SpendingPulse luxury index, which tracks sales at high-end restaurants, grocers, department stores and general apparel categories, was up for a sixth straight month as well, posting gains of 8.5 percent.  That’s the highest year-over-year growth for luxury goods since December of last year.

As always, MasterCard compiles the report based on all transactions in its network for a given month, including allbrands of credit and debit cards, cash and checks.

We’ll keep tracking retail sales data as it emerges this spring and hope that the upward trend continues!  Leave us your thoughts and comments below!

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We’ve been warning our readers for awhile that the proliferation of state online tax legislation was only going to continue here in 2011.  We weren’t kidding.

Lo and behold, Arkansas last week became the latest state to move closer to an affiliate tax that so many other states have either adopted or are in the process of considering.

SB 738, also known as both the Amazon Tax law and the Main Street Fairness law down in The Natural State, passed the Arkansas General Assembly last week and has been sent to Governor Mike Beebe’s desk.   Beebe, a Democrat, has already gone on the record supporting the bill so final approval should come sooner rather than later.

Mirroring similar legislation in other parts of the country, the measure’s primary action would be a requirement that retailers begin collecting sales taxes if they have affiliate partnerships within the state’s borders and do more than $10,000 a year in sales.

Once Beebe signs the bill into law, Arkansas will become the fifth state overall to enact affiliate/sales tax legislation, following in the footsteps of New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Illinois.

Illinois is the only one of the bunch to actually pass such a bill into law here in 2011, but according to some experts, there are similar pending bills up for review in at least another ten states across the nation right now as well.  As such, we could be seeing the first of a steady stream of new state tax laws over the coming months that will dwarf those passed just a year ago.

Of course, the biggest question now (as has been the case in those other four states) is how the Arkansas bill will affect Amazon.  The very fact that Amazon’s name has found its way into the bill’s aliases proves that the company is in the crosshairs of this kind of legislation more than any other. Amazon’s actions in response to online tax bills lately have served as an example for other retailers affected by the bills as well.

We couldn’t find any official response from Amazon about SB 738 (while ironically, Walmart, which calls Arkansas home, supports it) but it’s not hard envision the company severing ties with its Arkansas’ affiliates, just as it has done in several other states.  Simply put, it makes more financial sense for Amazon to just pull out of states with tax laws it considers burdensome rather than stick around.  We wouldn’t be surprised to see Amazon officially end its’ affiliate relationships in Arkansas within a month of Governor Beebe’s approval of the new law.

But what do you think? Leave us your thoughts on this latest online sales tax development!

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I like clouds.  Aside from their fluffiness, they provide temporary shade from the sun, life-sustaining water to our  planet, and storage for our documents, photos, music, and videos.

That last part refers to cloud storage, of course; it seems as though more and more companies are allowing us to store our digital treasures on their servers rather than our physical hard drives/computers.  The latest company to ask for our goodies is Amazon

Amazon has announced their new Cloud Drive and Player for Web service!  Customers receive 5gb of online storage space to unload their illegal music collection online though they can buy more space if they so desire; plucky pirates will then be able to listen to their ill gotten goods from anywhere they have Internet access too, regardless of the iPod, Blackberry, HTC EVO, or any other myriad of MP3 playing smartphones they already have.

I kid, I kid.

Those of you who actually buy music online (really?) from iTunes or Amazon *nudge nudge* will have a central location from which to access your music.  Amazon will even be so kind as to scan your PC for music files—MP3 and AAC files only, boys and girls—using the Amazon MP3 Uploader, which uses Adobe Air (you’ll have to download and install it too).  You can then download the MP3 files onto another computer or you can simply listen to your collection in a web browser using the Player for Web.

It’s not just music though; you can upload photos and documents as well.  However, anything without a musical chord in it will ONLY be accessible through a browser.

So there you have it; blue skies aren’t where it’s at.  Consumers want to sing in a digital downpour of cloud-based services, it seems.  It sounds like a pretty cool service to use in conjunction with Evernote, Dropbox, and The Box.  Is this the end of storage as we know it? Will we develop ADD with HDDs and SSDs?  LOL.  Nah.  Not yet.  I still like to keep my files where I can see ‘em, thank you very much.

But enough about me: what do you guys think about Amazon’s Cloud Drive and Player?  Upload a comment so that we can save it in the Ecommerce Junkie Cloud.

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EBay Acquires GSI CommerceEbay announced this morning that it will acquire e-commerce and marketing solutions provider GSI Commerce in a cash and debt deal that will be worth about $2.4 billion.  It would represent the online auction site’s priciest acquisition since its failed takeover of Skpe in 2005.

“The acquisition of GSI, which offers the most comprehensive integrated suite of online commerce and interactive marketing services available, will significantly strengthen our ability to connect buyers and sellers worldwide,” said John Donahoe, EBay CEO, in a statement.

On the surface, it seems to be a financial boom for GSI.  EBay will be paying roughly $29.25 per share in the deal, which is about 51 percent higher than GSI’s most recent closing price.  GSI stock hasn’t traded above the $29 mark since mid-July of 2010.

On the flip side however, EBay is getting a solid asset in return that could significantly strengthen its Marketplace offerings.

GSI, based in King of Prussia, Pa., is a market leader in e-commerce solutions and services for companies both retail and non-retail alike.  Its’ primary business though is building e-commerce infrastructure, such as payment processing, fulfillment and customer service options, for retailers.  The company, which boasts RadioShack, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Toys ‘R’ Us and Zales as some of its bigger clients, reported $1.36 billion in revenue last year, a 36 percent increase from 2009.

GSI shareholders will still need to approve the acquisition but it’s expected to be completed sometime in mid-2011.

EBay will not be absorbing all of GSI’s components, however.   The sports merchandise licensing business that GSI runs in conjunction with the NBA, NHL, NASCAR and other major sports brands, as well as 70 percent of GSI’s ownership of ShopRunner and Rue La La, will be divested under the terms of the deal and sold to a new holding company headed up by GSI founder and CEO Michael Rubin.

EBay instead will focus on integrating GSI’s e-commerce services with its own Marketplace and PayPal offerings, a move that the company predicts could generate up to $60 million by 2013.

As always, we welcome your thoughts and comments!

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E-mail marketing leader Constant Contact announced that it has put the finishing touches on an acquisition of Bantam Live, a leading contact management and social CRM provider.

The purchase should substantially add to the email marketing capabilities that Constant Contact provides already to more than 400,000 businesses and small organizations. Bantam Live, based in New York, was owned and operated by privately-held Bantam Networks, LLC.

The final price tag on the deal is $15 million, subject to post-closing adjustments.

“Building highly-engaged customer relationships is the number one pain point for small organizations.  To do this, they need a unified view of their contacts across all channels, from email addresses to social media connections, to event registrations,” said Gail Goodman, Constant Contact CEO.  “With the Bantam Live acquisition and our internal development initiatives, we are building a platform that delivers a targeted approach to building stronger customer relationships and cultivating new ones – the number one business driver for small organizations.  Armed with better, targeted insight, small organizations can more easily turn prospects into customers or members, and fans into advocates.”

Bringing on Bantam will primarily help Constant Contact expand and offer their services over multiple channels.

Bantam Live boasts a robust social CRM platform that will create a unified repository of data across several different channels including email opens, survey responses, clicks, event participation and social media interactions.  The acquisition will substantially affect how data is captured, reported and analyzed for Constant Contact’s small business clients and will help them better track and measure customer engagement.

Constant Contact will eventually incorporate the social CRM functionality into all of its products and offerings, including a paid social media marketing package which should become available later this year.

As we’ve said time and time again, email marketing is a crucial component of an effective retail and e-commerce communications strategy.  There are quite a few companies out there offering suites of software to help you tailor your email marketing and Constant Contact is definitely one of the best.  If you still haven’t seriously embarked on email marketing campaigns, this deal may be exactly what you need to go look into Constant Contact.

Leave us your thoughts and comments!

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We just reported on Amazon and the online sales tax issue in North Carolina on Friday but it appears that there’s another new development in one of e-commerce’s hottest topics now in Texas.

Following through on repeated threats that it has made in Texas (and elsewhere) during the dialogue over internet taxes, Amazon has announced that it is pulling out of the state altogether, closing a Dallas-based fulfillment center and scrapping plans to build more in the Lone Star State.

The action is the result of staring contest of sorts between the web giant and Texas over the latter’s proposed online sales tax policy, which Amazon is steadfastly refusing to give in to.   Texas claims that Amazon owes nearly $270 million in back sales taxes plus interests and penalties.

Amazon cited “the unfavorable regulatory climate” fostered by the Texas Comptroller’s office as the driving force behind shuttering the Dallas facility and ceasing any future fulfillment operations in the state.

“Closing this fulfillment center is clearly not our preferred outcome.  We were previously planning to build additional facilities and expand in Texas, bringing more than 1,000 new jobs and tens of millions of investment dollars to the state, and we regret the need to reverse course,”  said Amazon vice president of North American operations Dave Clark, in an internal memo to employees.  “Despite much hard work and the support of other Texas officials, we’ve been unable to come to a resolution with the Texas Comptroller’s office.”

Amazon has been at the forefront in a number of states that have either implemented, or are currently drafting, online sales tax legislation as a way to help close holes in their budgets.  All along, the company has maintained that it would simply cease affiliate relationships and other business operations in states that take up sweeping online tax codes rather than be held accountable for what it views as unfair and burdensome regulation.  This is the first tangible example yet, though, of Amazon making good on its claims.

For its part, the Texas comptroller’s office is sticking to its guns, arguing that its policy with regard to Amazon was simply part of a broader overall effort to make merchants accountable under the state’s tax laws.

“We regret losing any business in Texas, but our position hasn’t changed:  If you have a [physical] presence in the state of Texas, you are required to pay sales tax just like any other business that has a physical presence in Texas,” they said.

It would appear that Amazon is indeed serious about not doing business in states like Texas that are pushing for back online sales taxes.  We’ll have to wait and see if the company follows suit in other states and what this action in Texas could mean for those other states that are thinking about implementing similar tax laws this year.

In the meantime, we welcome your comments!

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Happy Wednesday everyone!

Up here in New York City, we’re digging out from yet another snow storm (though this one was fairly tame compared to the December blizzard).  As such, we don’t have any news to post for you today but we do have announcement that we hope will catch your eye.

Part of our strategy for 2011 is to expand the overall blog to include even more news, resources and information for both shoppers and retailers, to build on the great year we had in 2010.  You can definitely expect to see an increase in features over the next few months but for now, our top priority is to get more content on Ecommerce Junkie, particularly from outside sources.

Starting immediately, we’re putting a call out to all e-commerce/retail industry individuals who are interested in appearing as guest columnists on Ecommerce Junkie this year.  This doesn’t need to be a regular gig at all, one-time submissions will work too.  We basically want to provide a forum for writers who have something important to say, be that a trend or just analysis of news from within in the industry.

There’s no restrictions regarding the length of submissions and we’ll carefully consider any submission we receive.  However, please do not send us product pitches or company news items, as this is not the forum for that sort of thing.  Please also do not include features that are link-heavy; one or two links is fine but your submission should not be a blatant attempt at link-building.

We want clear, well-written pieces that are going to be useful to our readers on things like internet taxation around the country, the continued threat of click fraud, mobile commerce, social media integration and the like.

Got something to say in 2011?  Let us be your platform.  Send your ideas/pitches to ecomjunkie@mail.com and we’ll get back to you write away.  We’d love to have at least one guest piece per month throughout the year!

Email us with any questions you might have, we look forward to working with you in 2011!

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Less than two weeks ago we reported on the new online sales tax amnesty program being rolled out in Illinois that was the first of its kind in the country.  Now there’s yet another big development in the Prairie State regarding the hot-button topic of internet taxation.

Lawmakers in the state’s General Assembly have approved a 6.25 percent tax on web purchases, which will be levied on goods bought through affiliates of online retailers that bring in a minimum of $10,000 a year in sales in the state.

The measure passed by an overwhelming 88-29-0 vote in the state House as an amendment to Illinois House Bill 3659, after having won approval from the Illinois Senate earlier this week.

Lawmakers now have 30 days to send the bill to Governor Pat Quinn, who can take up to 60 days to sign off on it.  The law would presumably go into effect on July 1 if approved by Quinn.

If enacted, it would make Illinois the latest in a growing list of U.S. states that are turning to online tax proposals to help close budget deficits.  Illinois’ law does differ from other such proposals a bit, in that it would technically tack on the 6.25 percent to certain online purchases as part of a ‘use’ tax.  Use taxes apply to the right to use items bought from catalogs and/or the Internet that generally don’t collect traditional sales taxes for a state.

Not surprisingly, the law’s proponents are touting it as a means of leveling the playing field for all retailers, online and off, in Illinois.

“The bill treats online merchants more like bricks-and-mortar merchants,”  said a spokesman for state Senate president John Cullerton. “The retailer would be responsible for collecting the tax.”

The bill only pertains to online retailers with active affiliates in the state, in line with a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling dictating that only web retailers with a physical presence in a given state are required to actively collect state sales taxes.

What happens from here in Illinois is anyone’s guess, though it’s expected that the bill will be signed by Governor Quinn.  Retailers with affiliates in the state could repeat actions they’ve done in other states where similar affiliate-targeted legislation has passed, namely, cut the affiliates off altogether to avoid paying taxes.   Legal action on the part of such retailers could be a possibility too, as was the case in North Carolina with Amazon.

Regardless, we’ll keep tabs on the Illinois movement and fill you in when new details emerge.  As always, leave us your comments!

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Happy New Year!

Ecommerce Junkie will be off today (New Year’s Eve), returning on Monday, January 3rd.

We resolve to keep bringing you solid and helpful news items throughout 2011 and we’re always looking for your tips and suggestions, so keep them coming!

We hope all of our readers enjoyed 2010 and we wish all of you a very happy and healthy New Year!

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