Retail Solutions Briefs: Online retail, Buy.com, Daisytek & Telstra

Online retail to boom

A report on Australian Internet consumer spending by KPMG Consulting predicts the market will be worth $50 billion within four to five years.

KPMG, along with the University of Canberra's National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, have released the inaugural Australian Internet Consumption Report, which identifies potential Internet spending for each postcode in the country.

Spending in different areas varies largely, but Balmain, NSW, and East Melbourne, Victoria, emerge as the two biggest spending postcodes. The report also identifies high spending areas where consumers, dubbed "super consumers", make up only 22 per cent of the online population, but account for almost half of online spending. Sydney suburb Neutral Bay and Melbourne suburb Southbank came in on top with 45.8 per cent of adults classed as "super consumers".

Buy.com settles lawsuit

Buy.com has agreed to pay $US575,000 to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by a group of customers over a pricing glitch on the company's Web site in the US.

Buy.com isn't acknowledging any wrongdoing as part of the proposed settlement agreement. But the California-based company agreed to pay $50 to each of the customers represented in the suit.

The lawsuit stems from a pricing error on a 19 inch monitor from Hitachi, which was briefly listed on the Buy.com site in February 1999 for $164.50 - far below its normal price of $564.50.

Buy.com said the glitch was the result of a clerical error. The company honoured the lower price for the monitors it had in stock but refused to ship any more at that price.

Daisytek pens Internet retail deal with TelstraDaisytek Australia has signed an agreement with Telstra to distribute its range of Big Pond retail Internet access products.

As part of the deal, Daisytek will distribute Telstra's 7/15/25/50 hour Internet cards and Web Surfer's Guide to retailers across the country.

The distributor will also provide fulfilment for the Fly Buys loyalty program on the cards. The pre-paid cards are available in 7/15/25/50-hour increments, with recommended retail prices ranging from $16.45-$54.95.

"While we still have a strong focus and expertise in traditional IT consumables, the face of computing is changing, largely driven by the Internet," said Paul Connelly, managing director of Daisytek, Asia-Pacific. "The emergence of smart cards is seeing a new generation in the growth of products that are deemed computing consumables and therefore aimed at the retail market."