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PA e-Comm News November 18

ADVERTISERS OF THE WEEK

32 states approved a pact that represents a major step toward creating a system to tax items sold on the Internet. The agreement identifies unified definitions of products that previously varied from area to area and created bureaucratic nightmares. It also requires participating state and local governments to have only one statewide tax rate for each type of product beginning in 2006. This is a vast change from the current system with each state setting its own definitions and rates. Naturally, the Direct Marketing Association objected. Now, the need is to get state legislatures to actually enact legislation. The plan has sweeping implications for commerce on the Internet, where state and local governments are now powerless to require collection and remittance of sales taxes on transactions by residents with out-of-state retailers, since the Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that such vendors could not be forced to collect sales tax if they did not have a physical presence in the consumer's home state. Advocates of a taxing system say requiring Internet retailers to collect sales taxes would also level the competitive playing field for traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers who currently comply with sales tax collection.

A coupon mix-up at Walt Disney's online store over the weekend led to a surge of orders--and a huge headache for the company. Using a coupon code that was passed around on shopping discussion sites, consumers flooded DisneyStore.com with four times the normal volume of orders. Witnessing this, Disney modified the offer, limiting customers' ability to use the coupon and started combing through the orders to determine which were legitimate. Disney had given a $15 gift certificate to customers who bought $65 or more of goods in one of its physical stores or over the phone or Internet in August and September. The coupon had no minimum purchase requirement, which meant that customers could potentially receive goods for free using the coupon; customers were initially required only to give the code for the gift certificate. While the terms of the coupon indicated that it could be used only once, Disney took no initial technical steps to prevent customers from using it multiple times or passing it on to other people. Word of the code quickly spread on the Internet via the shopping discussion boards and some consumers claimed to have made as many as 12 orders using the code. Disney quickly took steps to limit the coupon’s use by not automatically accepting the coupon online and by notifying customers that to use the gift certificate they would have to mail it to the company after placing their order. Last year, Spiegel customers repeatedly used codes from supposedly one-time-use coupons to order products from the catalog company. Similar problems have hit online stores such as Macy’s.com, Buy.com, Staples.com and eZiba; however, most of those stores caught their coupon problem before they shipped products and then simply cancelled the illegitimate orders.

Movielink, a joint venture with Sony, Warner Bros., Universal, MGM and Paramount studios, will launch in coming weeks what's being billed as an extensive library of recent and older movie titles. CinemaNow has added major films from Warner and Universal in September, with such titles as Ocean's Eleven and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone available for "rental" download at $3.99 each. Users are given a limited amount of time to watch the films, then the files disappear from their hard drives. Even though more people are trading pirated first-run movies, the studios believe that renting them at a reasonable price will attract those who want to view quality films. This is in contrast to movies-on-demand Web site Intertainer, which shut down in October after offering recent films online to subscribers for the past year, because the major studios were refusing to allow it to distribute their films and filed suit against AOL Time Warner, Sony, Universal and Movielink.

A recent global study from Consumers International and Consumer WebWatch on health and finance sites, conducted between April and July 2002, assessed more than 460 health and finance Web sites worldwide to determine their overall level of credibility. Believing that majority of consumers using the Web are relying on it for credible information they can trust, the researchers were alarmed by misleading, inaccurate and incomplete information they discovered. The research found that 49% of the evaluated health and financial sites failed to give warnings about the appropriate use of their data, neglecting to inform consumers about consulting a professional and at least half of the sites that gave medical or financial advice failed to provide full information about the authority and credentials of the people behind that advice.

The lack of credibility among health sites could have severe implications since another study found that of the 73 million Americans who go online to find answers to health questions, only about one quarter follow experts' advice and thoroughly check the source and date of the information they find online.

In a study of 88,000 voters conducted by Penn Public Affairs, 62% wished to be contacted by major political organizations that shared their views and provided their e-mail addresses. Many folks said they would participate in the political process but they're never asked. Despite the growing popularity of e-mail, local officials are still more likely to cite phone calls (64%), letters (35%) and meetings (29%), rather than e-mail, as the most common means citizens use to communicate with them.

E-mail has been a real asset to many local elected officials, with over 70% reporting that e-mail with constituents helps them better understand public opinion; 56% say their use of e-mail has improved their relations with community groups; and 54% say that their use of e-mail has brought them into contact with citizens from whom they had not heard before. It appears Americans are finally beginning to embrace the e-government concept. A recent Council fro Exvellence in Government survey found that 76% of Internet users and 56% of Americans have visited a government Web site; also, 64% expect e-government to have a positive effect on the way the government operates. Of the 400 government leaders polled, 78% believe that e-government is having a positive effect on how government operates, with most wanting to proceed quickly to expand e-government.

Amazon has finally launched its apparel store just in time for the start of the holiday season. Many analysts have long expected the company to enter the clothing sales arena and Amazon has been beta testing the site with some customers for more than a week, with the test processing sales of nearly 15,000 shirts and 20,000 other pieces of clothing. In order to lure customers from traditional sites, Amazon is offering a $30 voucher to anyone who spends $50 on clothes.

Japanese researchers have scientifically documented the fact that prolonged daily computer use can make you sore and sap your strength, energy and motivation. They discovered that people who sat in front of computer screens were more likely to experience physical pain, such as eye and shoulder strain, and to suffer from motivational symptoms such as lethargy. There was no time limit that triggered complaints of physical pain and workers most often reported symptoms such as eyestrain, headaches and stiff shoulders. 
 

PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITIES

The following is a listing of recently published technology procurement opportunities with various governmental entities. We hope our readers take the opportunity to investigate these postings and increase their business:

USAF - Air Force Materiel Command
ESC - Electronic Systems Center
R--DMAG DATA MART (Q303)
RFP Program Files 01, Synopsis http://www.eps.gov/spg/USAF/AFMC/ESC/FA8770-03-F-0022/listing.html

TREAS - United States Customs Service (USCS)
Field Procurement Services Branch
D -- Pager Rental and Services
Combine Synopsis/Solicitation http://www.eps.gov/spg/TREAS/USCS/FPSB/CS-I-03-21217/listing.html

DON - Naval Supply Systems Command
FISC San Diego
A--PORTABLE RADIOS,HEADSES WITH MIC,ADAPTORS AND BATTERIESA Solicitation 01 http://www.eps.gov/spg/DON/NAVSUP/200/N0024403T0195/listing.html

DON - United States Marine Corps
Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany RCO
U--SUPPORT FOR MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE, ALBANY, GA, BUSINESS PERFORMANCE OFFICE, FUNCTIONALITY ASSESSMENT SUPPORT PROJECT Solicitation 01 http://www.eps.gov/spg/DON/USMC/M67004/M6700403R0011/listing.html

DON - Naval Sea Systems Command
NUWC Keyport Division
R--Services, TI Line Connectivity
Synopsis http://www.eps.gov/spg/DON/NAVSEA/N00253/N0025303Q0014/listing.html

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