The Maryland House Ways and Means Committee should support exempting news media from Maryland’s digital ad tax law, said local press and broadcaster associations at a virtual hearing Friday. The Maryland General Assembly overrode the governor’s veto of the tax law Feb. 12 (see 2102120050), drawing a lawsuit from business groups (see 2102180053). HB-1200 would remedy Maryland DC Delaware Broadcasters Association concerns, said counsel Tim Nelson. Broadcasting ad revenue is declining partly due to the big tech companies targeted by the tax, he noted. The bill “acknowledges the vital importance of Maryland's local news outlets,” said Rebecca Snyder, executive director of the Maryland, Delaware and District of Columbia Press Association. The exemption is narrowly tailored to newsgathering organizations, she said. It wouldn’t cover news aggregators but would cover small newspapers owned by larger entities like Gannett, she said. Del. Jason Buckel (R) doubted the effectiveness of the bill prohibiting tech companies from passing costs from the tax to small businesses. They might not be able to create an explicit fee, but Maryland can’t stop them from changing their pricing, he said. HB-1200 sponsor Del. Eric Luedtke (D) disagreed that tech companies would pass along the cost, even under the original bill, saying that's “fearmongering.”

A Feedvisor analysis of 1,000 U.S. brands found more than three-quarters selling on Amazon, up from 55% a year ago, reported the analytics company Thursday. COVID-19 also accelerated adoption of Amazon Advertising, with 88% using the platform, up from 21% a year ago. “The growth of e-commerce during COVID-19 has substantially benefited e-marketplaces,” said Feedvisor President Dani Nadel. “Brands can no longer afford to ignore Amazon’s significance, nor can they rely solely on their owned channels.”

Maryland House members voted 88-48 to override a veto by Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on digital ad tax bill HB-732. The Senate is expected to vote Friday. It's unfair Facebook and Google don’t pay Maryland taxes, said House Majority Leader Eric Luedtke (D) during the livestreamed floor vote. Those companies are engaged in “fear mongering,” threatening to raise ad costs due to the proposed Maryland law, he said. “We're calling their bluff” by proposing HB-1200/SB-787 to prevent companies passing costs to small businesses, he said. Those bills exempt news media and are scheduled for hearing later this month (see 2102080040). Republican delegates urged legislators to sustain the veto. The proposed tax is an “attack on small business,” said Del. Jesse Pippy (R). The state tax isn’t allowed by the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act, said Del. Mike Griffith (R).

Transitioning to self-service online channels and bolstering the enterprise’s digital capabilities are the top strategic priorities for customer service and support leaders in 2021, reported Gartner Thursday. It canvassed 80 customer service and support executives in October and November from business-to-business and business-to-consumer organizations to gauge their 2021 priorities, based on "the changes and challenges they encountered in 2020,” finding upgrading “legacy” contact center technology the key priority for 79%. Establishing a permanent work-from-home program was a top priority for 57% of those polled, said Gartner. “Although 2020 challenged the operations and strategy of many service and support leaders, the focus on developing a greater digital and self-service product in 2021 remained consistent,” said analyst Jacob Joseph-David. “To deliver on this digital promise, service leaders must progress beyond adding new channels and capabilities to making the functional transformation into a self-service-dominant organization.”

Smart Repair Pro, an Amazon marketer of do-it-yourself repair kits, including iFixit products, will pay $700,000 to buy two Amazon third-party sellers, said parent company Medigus Tuesday. It didn’t identify the sellers or respond to questions. Smart Repair Pro and another subsidiary, Purex, specialize in buying struggling brands on Amazon and turning them around, said Medigus.

Bluecore Advertise launched a product that will let retailers predict what shoppers will buy next on over 20 digital ad channels -- including Google, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest -- so they can target shoppers on channels where they spend the most time. It partnered with Criteo, Google and Facebook on the targeting capabilities, it said Tuesday. Retailers will be able to predict what shoppers want to see next, orchestrate communications and reach a consumer with 1:1 recommendations, it said. The approach is different from retailers’ current retargeting efforts on digital ad channels, where “limited applications of first-party data often result in shoppers being served ads for products they have already seen or purchased, or which are irrelevant,” it said. This year, Bluecore will use artificial intelligence and machine learning to combine contextual insight with an understanding of where individual shoppers are in their buying cycles, allowing retailers to interact with shoppers according to known channel affinities and preferences, it said. If a shopper browsed 12 different pages on a brand’s site, Bluecore Advertise could determine that she should see a campaign aimed at driving conversion rather than one aimed at basic prospecting, it said. If a shopper is determined to be ready to buy shoes, Advertise would show her an ad for shoes she hasn’t already seen but is predicted to like.

When the pandemic began, “consumers in lockdown had no choice but to do all of their shopping online,” said PayPal CEO Dan Schulman on a Q4 call Wednesday evening. The vast majority of consumers now say that post-crisis, “they will continue to shop online at their current elevated levels because it is more convenient, easier and saves time,” he said. “Retailers are rapidly adapting to a new landscape, adjusting their strategy from encouraging consumers to visit their stores to optimizing for home delivery.” PayPal estimates the pandemic “has accelerated a digital wave of change across almost every industry by three to five years, unleashing a profound and permanent structural transformation,” he said. The service added 16 million net new active customers in the quarter, he said. “For the year, we delivered a record 73 million net new actives, ending the year with 377 million active accounts,” up 24 from 2019, he said. “We now have over 29 million merchants interacting with nearly 350 million consumers. In 2021, we expect to add another 50 million net new active accounts.” Daily active users in the quarter were up 29% from Q4 of 2019, he said.

About one in 10 U.S. online shoppers bought something on eBay during the holiday season, said CEO Jamie Iannone on a Q4 call Wednesday evening. In Germany, it was one in seven, and in the U.K., one in four, he said. The platform experienced “unprecedented traffic levels” for most of 2020, he said: “More than 100 days in 2020 exceeded peak 2019 traffic levels.” The holiday contributed to record volume “with high velocity in hard-to-find and sold-out items,” he said. “Refurbished gifts also emerged as a top trend, and we saw many products from top brands in our certified refurbished experience sell out.” The stock closed 5.3% higher Thursday at $61.12.

Instacart will partner with Family Dollar on same-day delivery from more than 6,000 U.S. stores, they said Thursday. This builds on the 275-store pilot they launched in November. Family Dollar small electronics include inexpensive headphones, earbuds and AV accessories and cables. Instacart launched a similar national partnership with 1,400 Big Lots stores in June (see 2006080035).

Lexus is letting customers choose how they want to buy a car in its new Monogram retail pilot. The automaker is giving customers more transparency into inventory and real-time pricing and the flexibility to shop when and how they want through an integrated user experience across Lexus.com, the dealership website and the dealer’s physical store, it said Monday. A Monogram “complete online experience,” allowing customers to complete their purchase online, will roll out market by market starting in spring, it said. The partnership between Toyota Motor North America and Lexus Financial Services is in response to shifting consumer purchase preferences, said the companies. Customers choose how they want to shop by starting the process online, saving their progress in the "digital garage" to pick up where they left off at the dealer, or completing the purchase at home or at the Monogram dealer. Sister brand Toyota is offering a similar experience through SmartPath. Monogram is being piloted in select markets with plans to accelerate availability through 2021.