Cupstart is a platform used to order & pay for coffee online at your favourite cafe
With all this talk recently about taxing GST Exempt online purchases, to "level the playing field" for traditional stores, I am pleased to see evidence that the solution is not in taxing and over-governing society, but rather allowing the entrepreneurs of this world to think about solutions that work for the people.
Enter Mike Boyde, from CupStart who has developed an application for internet enabled mobile devices so customers can order and pay for their coffee BEFORE they arrive at their local cafe. It means the customer saves time, and there is no cash that exchanges hands at the register. Mike originally thought that his service would benefit the time poor, but didn't realise the adoption rate being so high due to the cashless benefit.
In America, there is a shift towards Near Field Communication, and phone manufacturers will soon be releasing devices with the technology built in, along with high profile companies like Google via Android and Paypal wanting a slice of the action, I can guarantee its going to be a hot bit of real estate.
My point here is that the issue around GST-Exempt offshore internet purchases creating an unlevel playing field for our retail stores in Australia just is not true.. in fact, its a complete lie. The difference between the price of products that can be bought here AND offshore via the internet is a lot more than 10% - in some cases, I can quote items that are 30 and 40% difference in price. The internet is only the vehicle for the popularity of offshore purchases, we in Australia have been paying the likes of Gerry Harvey premium dollars for a lot longer than the surge in popularity of the internet, and the introduction of the GST. Its time we got smarter and adapt to the changing ways of the world and service our customers better, not govern our people and companies to the point where we are excluded from the global playing field. . This is a global economy.
Enter Mike Boyde, from CupStart who has developed an application for internet enabled mobile devices so customers can order and pay for their coffee BEFORE they arrive at their local cafe. It means the customer saves time, and there is no cash that exchanges hands at the register. Mike originally thought that his service would benefit the time poor, but didn't realise the adoption rate being so high due to the cashless benefit.
In America, there is a shift towards Near Field Communication, and phone manufacturers will soon be releasing devices with the technology built in, along with high profile companies like Google via Android and Paypal wanting a slice of the action, I can guarantee its going to be a hot bit of real estate.
My point here is that the issue around GST-Exempt offshore internet purchases creating an unlevel playing field for our retail stores in Australia just is not true.. in fact, its a complete lie. The difference between the price of products that can be bought here AND offshore via the internet is a lot more than 10% - in some cases, I can quote items that are 30 and 40% difference in price. The internet is only the vehicle for the popularity of offshore purchases, we in Australia have been paying the likes of Gerry Harvey premium dollars for a lot longer than the surge in popularity of the internet, and the introduction of the GST. Its time we got smarter and adapt to the changing ways of the world and service our customers better, not govern our people and companies to the point where we are excluded from the global playing field. . This is a global economy.
