In adjusting to the 1st December vat reduction,
“catalogue retailers face particular problems – because
their prices cannot be easily altered,” noted The Guardian, which included Argos
in an article titled “Retailers wrestle with repricing
amid doubts that vat cut will work”.
Some marketers, though, are already taking advantage of the
vat cut as a promotional tool, according to The Times. PC World and
Currys parent company DSG International got a
jump start on passing the cuts onto customers by lowering its
prices yesterday. And fashion cataloguer Boden launched
an email campaign advertising discounts of 17.5 per cent.
While Woolworths continues to negotiate for a sale of
its retail division and its portion of the 2Entertain
joint venture with BBC Worldwide, shares in the business
have been suspended from trading, reports The Independent. The Times, meanwhile, says that
“insolvency looms” for Woolies as it
“scrabbles to find sufficient funds to pay its monthly
wage bill”. And the Woolworths eCommerce site is a shadow
of its former self. Although the site header declares
“Buy Childrens Cheap Toys, gifts, garden furniture & kids
outdoor toys”, the site now sells only video games, DVDs,
CDs, mobiles and books.
Visa has launched the 3V Visa Internet Shopping Gift
Card, which it claims is the first UK gift card that
can be used at just about any eCommerce site.
Oooh, Matron: Apparently six large boxes of used sex toys
were stolen from outside the premises of direct marketer
LoveHoney. The seller of “adult goods” had
launched an “amnesty” programme during the summer in
which customers who sent in a used sex toy for recycling received
a replacement at half price.
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