You get a sense that online retailer Ruslan Kogan’s on-going PR battle with retailer giant Gerry Harvey has been a bit of a David v Goliath battle with barbs being thrown from the sidelines.

Today, Kogan stepped up the battle with news that his Kogan Technologies has seen a record 48% growth in quarterly revenue. At the same time, Kogan launched a shot across the bow of Harvey Norman, reporting Harvey Norman’s “like-for-like sales decrease from Q1 FY10 of 0.6%”.

“Whether shopping at Kogan.com.au or elsewhere, Australian shoppers are realising that the best deals are always available online. Bricks and mortar retailers like Harvey Norman appear to be blaming the the foreign exchange markets for their poor results, but this is just a smokescreen for the real underlying issues associated with their business model. Any economist will tell you that a rising Australian dollar should be positive news for retailers of imported goods like Harvey Norman.” Kogan said in a prepared statement.

The news comes on the back of a report that local retailers are seeking to have tax laws changed for online shoppers in a bid to arrest the growth in online shopping, particularly the growth of shopping outside Australia. Local retailers are seeking a drop in the GST threshold from $1000 down to $400 or to have it removed completely.

However, News.com.au is reporting that a spokesman for Assistant Federal Treasurer, Bill Shorten,  has said that the Board of Taxation found that it “would not be administeratively feasible to apply the GST to low-value goods – that is, goods worth less than $1000.” However, the spokesperson said that it still warrants “serious examination”.

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