By Aimee Chanthadavong
In response to the escalating row over imposing GST on international online sales, independent online IT retailer estore.com.au offered customers a GST-free weekend on goods.
Lorenzo Coppa, eStore.com.au CEO, told Retailbiz that consumers are becoming savvier in terms of finding the best deal and that deal is often online.
“The issue is not about GST, it’s about bricks and mortar versus online retailing. But more importantly, it’s about the best value proposition available to Australians, whereby online shopping saves people time and money,” he said.
According to Lorenzo, the future of retailing is online and retailers need to adapt to the changing market as the company has not been affected by the growth of internationally bought products.
“In fact we have seen an increase in online sales of 51 per cent in the last financial year,” he said.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about consumers and how they should be given a wide variety of choices and the best deals they can get. Online shopping gives customers added flexibility and convenience at attractive and competitive prices.”
eStore.com.au paid the GST on customers’ behalf over the weekend by discounting the invoice by the GST amount. For businesses that purchased products on eStore.com.au, GST was still paid so that businesses could claim the GST amount on the invoice.