Taxing Amazon won’t make it less competitive, says Terry Duddy

Home Retail Group chief executive Terry Duddy has said that taxing Amazon will not make a difference to its competitive offer.

Speaking at the BRC Retail Symposium in London, Duddy said he did not believe an online tax made sense.

“Will taxing Amazon make any difference to the competitive offer they’ve got?” he asked the audience.

However, he did say that the business rates system is “ridiculous” and argued that Comet and Jessops did not go bust because of the internet, but “when they went down they were paying millions in business rates”.

Duddy said fulfillment will become the major differentiator in the future for retailers. He said that home delivery has limited headroom for growth and the future is more to do with click- and-collect.

He said few companies in the UK can match the supply chain model of Argos in terms of online and stores, and said that Argos will be working on “superior fulfillment” in the future.

Source : Jennifer Creevey – Retail Week
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