GANDT Fireside Chat #047 | VAT reduction in Germany and free Google Knowledge Panels

True to our motto “Working Out Loud”, we at GANDT Ventures exchange our thoughts and ideas on current news topics. The topics from around the world ranges from online marketing, digital retail to 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 chats are available to anyone who is interested what Google, Facebook, Amazon and co. are up to.

Update on VAT reduction in Germany

Since the VAT reduction in Germany is officially started, we are looking at how German companies are dealing with it. The VAT reduction shall help in order to revive the economy, which has been badly hit by the Corona pandemic.

Each company can decide for itself in what form they pass on the reduction to their customers – or increase their margin.

After the announcement, supermarket like Aldi and Kaufland had announced that they would pass on the reduction to their customers.

haben die selbe Entscheidung Meanwhile, Amazon, Gravis and Cyberport have made it clear that they will implement the reduced VAT in their systems. Also the German DIY stores Obi, Hornbach and Bauhaus have made the same decision.

Douglas, on the other hand, implements a slightly different solution. The perfumery chain will only allow its customers a discount of 3% via voucher on the second purchase.
We have not yet been able to find out in what form this voucher will be given to customers.

McDonald’s, in contrast, will not pass on the VAT reduction to its customers, arguing that it will use the additional profit internally.
The U.S. fast-food operator plans to raise employees’ wages, get employees back from short-time work and waive price increases for the rest of the year.

Listen to us in the Fireside Chat and find out what our opinion is on the respective implementation variants of the companies!

Free Google shopping also in organic search results

Google is releasing new information about the free Google Knowledge Panels, which will be rolled out worldwide by the end of the year.
The already known feature “Google Knowledge Panels”, which previously also displayed shopping search results on the normal search result page, will in future consist exclusively of organic shopping products.

What exactly does Google Knowledge Panels mean?

The product listing ads that appear in the Google knowledge panels when a user searches for specific items will be all free and organic. Currently, these offers are all still paid ads.

The Google knowledge panel is typically displayed when a user searches for a specific product. Google has been displaying paid product listings in these panels since 2017.

By changing these ads into free entries, detailed product descriptions and high-quality product images become even more significant.

Agenda | GANDT Fireside Chat Video #047