Amazon.com

Last week the California State Assembly passed AB155, a bill designed to close a tax loophole enjoyed by consumers and online retailers for decades. If AB155 becomes law, it will mean items bought online in California from many out-of-state e-retailers will be subject to the same sales tax as items purchased from retailers located in California.

Amazon has jumped into the daily-deals space, launching a coupon site called AmazonLocal. The site, currently only available in Boise, Idaho, sells daily-deal coupons for 50 percent or more savings at local businesses. 

Amazon, Overstock.com and similar companies may be facing new taxes in California. The state has passed a bill in the Assembly which will tax e-commerce sales, and now the legislation is on its way to the Senate. 

State legislatures continue to experiment with novel nexus legal theories in their persistent drive to compel use tax collection by retailers located beyond their borders. The most recent state efforts are aimed directly at online retailers through passage of so-called "Amazon laws."

While our ranking of the fastest-growing cross-channel retailers features some of the biggest players in the industry, Retail Online Integration is well aware that there are thousands of other private retailers out there making their own strides. As a result, our staff selected five exceptional private retailers to highlight.

Sons and daughters say thanks to dad every June by showering him with love, affection and, of course, gifts. The weeks leading up to Father’s Day are spent searching for the perfect tie, power tool or “World’s Best Dad” coffee mug. Using Compete's panel of 2 million consumers and the results of our Spring 2011 Online Shopper Intelligence study, we're able to shed some light on consumer spending this Father’s Day and what e-retailers can do to best reach these shoppers.

We spend so much time focusing on the TV-like branding impact of video that it is easy to forget that streaming media can also take some of its cues from the infomercial — direct sales.

Hannspree, a provider of high-end, design-centric audiovisual products, announced its opening of a storefront on Amazon.com. The company currently offers three products on its Amazon storefront and more will be added in the coming months. 

Overstock.com today announced that it will award free Club O accounts ($20 value) preloaded with $10 in Club O Reward dollars to top customers in Connecticut, where the company canceled ad contracts because of the recently passed sales tax law.

Jeff Bezos, CEO, chairman and president of Amazon.com, spoke at last week's ShopSmart Summit at Consumer Reports' headquarters in New York. Bezos talked about issues affecting online shoppers — privacy, customer service, etc.