GANDT Fireside Chat #040 | VAT reduction in Germany and Twitter voice messages

True to our motto “Working Out Loud”, we at GANDT Ventures exchange our thoughts and ideas on current news topics in the world of online marketing, digital retail, and e-commerce. This helps us uncover opportunities that can be used for companies and our clients as part of our daily business.

But most of all, it is a lot of fun and a great way to share knowledge.
Our podcast-style chats are available to anyone who is interested to find out more about what Google, Facebook, Amazon and the likes are up to.

VAT reduction in Germany from 1 July 2020

The German Federal Government has adopted a far-reaching measure to improve the economy: Staring at July 1st 2020, VAT will be reduced for 6 months. This decision is part of the Federal Government’s Corona economic recovery package.

In concrete terms, this means the tax rate will be lowered from 19% to 16%; the lower VAT from 7% to 5%.

However, there is no obligation to pass on the tax cut to customers through correspondingly lower final prices. As part of normal pricing, companies, service providers and traders are free to maintain their prices and thereby increase their profit margins.

There has been a lot of discussions in trade since the first announcement, as well as whether companies will make this adjustment.
Some of the big German companies have now commented on this: The dm-drogerie market wants to pass the VAT reduction article for article to customers in its entirety.

Both in the online shop and in the brick-and-mortar stores, the drugstore chain will pass on the corresponding lowerprice transparently to the customer, this price will also form the basis of discount or point discounts.

dm already has the technical infrastrusture for such a temporary changes: As an omni-channel company, with features such as service express pick-ups in the store after an online order. This shows that the combination of online retail with the stationary business has great advantages.

Check out our Fireside Chat and find out what impact the reduction can have and how other companies want to do it!

Twitter enables voice messages in tweets

The short message platform now also starts with voice messages.
In line with the name, Tweets can now also be poested as an audio message and tweeted with a maximum length of 140 seconds per message.

The voice feature is not yet available for replies or retweets, but the audio tweets should appear in the timeline just like other messages.
This is to make it easier to use the app on the go. Users also have the option to add a little more personality to the short messages.

Especially in the journalism field, this new feature can facilitate a brief inventory.

The previous maximum number of 280 characters is not always sufficient and “some nuances of conversation are lost in the transmission” – this is how Twitter itself describes the motivation behind the new function.

The feature will initially only be available in the Twitter app for the iOS system of Apple’s iPhones and iPads. However, all devices should be able to listen to them.

It is still unclear how Twitter will check the new voice messages for hate speech or even dangerous misinformation.
Especially frequently discussed in the media, Twitter checks the written messages on its platform. Most recently, the network cracked down on false information about the Corona virus.

However, a Twitter spokesman confirmed that the company is working on additional monitoring systems. This should be integrated before the feature is to be made available to a wider range of users.

Agenda | GANDT Fireside Chat Video #040