Looking for Christmas oriented keyword research? You would be hard press to find a better list of hot toys this year than to look at Amazon.com’s holiday toy list. Google also offers their Google Trends product, which will likely confirm the validity of Amazon’s list as the holiday season draws near. Both of these lists work to reinforce the market leading position of the associated companies, and editorialize their content based on user feedback.Amazon.com not only offers stuff like the holiday toy list, but they

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A new study from Kronos, Inc. discusses the phenomenon of retail sales shifting from brick and mortar stores to internet retailers. In a nutshell, the study states that internet retailers who expect to capitalize on this shift had better understand customer service.

I disagree with one of the conclusions of the article referenced above–that we are in an age where customer service is valued over the price. This is simply not true. All of my years of experience in e-commerce along with study after study show that customers are primarily interested in the lowest price. In fact, that is far and away the primary reason that internet retail took off in the first place.

So, here is a quick tip for you. If a consultant comes along and tells you that customer service is more important than price, fire them. They do not know what they are talking about.

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Good news for online retailers and ecommerce - the Senate passed legislation that could ban taxes on sales for the next seven years.

If passed into law would extend the moratorium on Internet taxes. Called The Internet Tax Freedom Act, it has been in effect since 1998 and has already been extended twice.

The extension was much-hoped for and looks promising. An agreement between the House and Senate must be reached and the new law signed before November 1st when the current moratorium expires.

The House has already passed a four-year moratorium on internet taxes, so the two must now reach an agreement. Then President George Bush will need to sign off, all before next Thursday.

As Roderick noted in his post on this issue, states have already passed their own laws about online taxes. Some have made a permanent moratorium while others passed laws to tax internet sales. Existing laws will be grandfathered in. Texas was grandfathered and so collects tax on Internet access if charges exceed $25.00 per month (which is essentially on all high speed internet).

Plus the law is murky and difficult to apply fairly and can actually mean customers pay more online than at a physical store. Then there are shipping charges to consider. If you care to read it, here’s the current law. The new legislation is under H.R. 743 in the House and S. 156 in the Senate.

Businesses have banded together in favor of a permanent ban and formed a group called Don’t Tax our Web (nebulous name, isn’t it?).

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