STORES Magazine - January 2008 - (Page 122)

INSIDE TRACK Compiled by Anastasia Van Engelen NRFnews Member Testifies on Sales Tax Simplification & WHO WHAT WHEN JCPENNEY vice president and associate general counsel Wayne Zakrzewski testified in December before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law. The testimony came during a hearing on sales tax simplification legislation that would make it easier to require Internet merchants, mailorder houses and other “remote sellers” to collect sales tax across state lines. Zakrzewski expressed NRF’s position that the retailers that are not required to collect sales tax have a competitive advantage over those that are. The legislation would level the playing field so all retailers would play by the same tax rules, he said. In addition to putting local businesses at a disadvantage, the lack of sales tax collection by remote sellers forces state and local governments to increase other taxes to make Wayne Zakrzewski up for the lost revenue, ultimately impacting consumers, he said. The bill, sponsored by subcommittee member Rep. William Delahunt (D-Mass.), would allow states that have implemented the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement to require that out-of-state “remote seller” merchants collect sales tax on merchandise sold to residents of their states. Retailers would be compensated for the cost of collection, and collection could be outsourced to certified service providers. Retailers with less than $5 million in annual gross remote sales would be exempt. ber services of Shop.org for almost seven years, responsible for the management of The State of Retailing Online, the premier annual e-commerce benchmarking study, and Shop.org’s membership. The Scholarship Fund was established in January 2006 to provide financial support to students pursuing careers in the ecommerce industry. All of Shop.org’s proceeds from items purchased through CyberMonday.com help support the fund. CyberMonday.com, which launched in time for the 2006 holiday season, had more than 1.5 million visitors on Cyber Monday (Nov. 26) alone. NRF’s Davis Named One to “Watch” ELLEN DAVIS, senior director of strategic communications at NRF, was selected one of “15 to Watch” by PR News, one of the top magazines in the public relations industry. The award recognized 15 up-and-coming PR leaders and creative practitioners under the age of 30. Davis has served as a spokeswoman for the retail industry, appearing on dozens of broadcast news programs and in articles in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times discussing a variety of retail topics including e-commerce, consumer spending, the economy and loss prevention. Additionally, Davis is credited with coining the phrase “Cyber Monday” after noticing a trend of consumers shopping online on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Ellen Davis WWW.STORES.ORG Cyber Monday Raises $300,000 for Scholarships CYBERMONDAY.COM, a one-stop shop for holiday deals, raised approximately $300,000 for the Ray M. Greenly Scholarship Fund during the 2007 holiday season. CyberMonday.com is the official shopping website of Shop.org, NRF’s digital division, and is powered by Mall Networks. The Scholarship commemorates the life of Ray Greenly, a valued online retail industry veteran who passed away in 2005. Ray served as vice president of research and mem122 STORES / JANUARY 2008 http://Shop.org http://CYBERMONDAY.COM http://CYBERMONDAY.COM http://CYBERMONDAY.COM http://CYBERMONDAY.COM http://CYBERMONDAY.COM http://CYBERMONDAY.COM http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - January 2008

STORES Magazine - January 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page Build a 'Bot Sneak Peek at Fashion Trends What Shoppers Think 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Cover Story: Fishing for Talent Retail CEO Compensation Research Concept2Watch E-Commerce Payment Solutions Online Merchandising POS LPInformation LP Vantage Point Newsbeat Industry Watch Cover Story: Making LP PCI-Compliant Mall Security Video Surveillance Industry Perspective Forum RFID Business Intelligence Data Management Logistics Turning Green into Gold Love of – and for – the Outdoors Loeb Retail Letter ARTS Update Point of View NRF News Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

STORES Magazine - January 2008

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