Seasons Greetings, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

It’s Christmas already, and with only one day left before we all take some time out, I thought I would take some time to reflect on the year just passed and to thank you, our reader.

It has been a big year for online shopping in Australia. Comparing it to previous years, I don’t think we’ve had so many new web sites startup and appear overnight. It’s not just small businesses either, Online shopping in Australia has jumped leaps and bounds this year, with many big brand bricks and mortar stores finally seeing the light and joining in on the online shopping miracle.

Throughout the year, Australians have been subjected to one very hot topic; the lowering of the $1000 GST tax threshold on overseas sales. The idea of lowering the threshold put a massive rift between shoppers and retailers. Apparently the retailers simply can’t compete with a GST free product overseas. As you might agree, online shoppers don’t want a lower tax threshold. The topic still rages on!

Another big topic with online shopping in Australia this year has been the surge in mobile phones and tablet PCs being used for shopping, be it claiming coupon deals, using phone cameras as barcode scanners in retail stores, or simply doing the “lounge shopping” on an iPad after a days work. Mobile devices are now our best shopping friend for collecting photos and barcode infomation so we can compare prices with online shops.

As mentioned above, the best part of the online shopping year is that the big brand retailers have finally adopted the internet and launched online stores. Myers, David Jones, BIG W, Harvey Norman, Kmart Shop, Target Online and a few more are now fully functional online stores and taking a big chunk of a shoppers weekly budget.

Next year the Online Shopping Australia web site is planning a few new exciting features for saving money, and time when you’re shopping online. We’re also in the middle of our “mobile” web site and the iPhone / iPad application version of the site. So we’re excited about the new year and can’t wait to start work again ;)

We’ll be taking a break over the next week, however I’ll still be checking emails and answering your questions as often as I can. The team and I will be back at the Online Shopping Australia early in the new year, ready to deliver the best online deals, discounts, and online shopping news for Australia.

Before I leave today, I would like to thank you for reading our news and articles. Our web site wouldn’t be here today without you, so thanks for reading it.

I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year