Amazon.com

Wal-Mart, Target and other large retailers are ratcheting up a political campaign to force Amazon to collect sales taxes, sensing opportunity in the budget crises gripping statehouses nationwide. The big-box stores are backing a coalition called the Alliance for Main Street Fairness, which is leading efforts to change sales-tax laws in more than a dozen states including Texas and California.

The young woman in the Zappos.com video wears little makeup with her hair in a ponytail. She's cute, but she's no supermodel. What she is: A Zappos employee chosen for her pep and "real people" look to wear and talk about shoes for sale on the company's website.

How fast is e-commerce growing for consumer packaged goods? Fast enough that a new shopper-marketing agency has launched to focus solely on the channel. Packaged goods is now a $12 billion business across a host of pure-play e-commerce brands such as Amazon and drugstore.com.

Many online marketplaces and e-commerce companies have set up pages on their websites to instruct users on how to help victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan through direct donations to charitable organizations or by donating a portion of sales.

Across the country, state officials struggling with big budget shortfalls are trying to get Amazon.com to take on a role it doesn't want: tax collector.

Amazon said it's severing ties with affiliates in Illinois, citing a law signed that imposes taxes on consumers who make online purchases. The affiliates — websites that send customers to Amazon through links — will no longer be paid for sales that result from the referrals, Seattle-based Amazon said in an email.

The internet killed the music business, ruined the newspaper industry and has effectively brought the publishing world to its knees, and for years there's been speculation it would do the same to brick-and-mortar stores, as consumers began to flock online for their shopping needs.

A group called Alliance for Main Street Fairness argues that by failing to collect sales taxes, online retailers like Amazon have an unfair advantage over brick-and-mortar stores that's costing jobs, killing businesses and contributing to state budget deficits.

Sears Holdings has joined other retailers, including Barnes & Noble, in inviting Amazon.com affiliates to work with its brand following Amazon's response to recent legislation related to collected taxes on e-commerce purchases.

Wal-Mart has made a push to capitalize on Amazon’s ongoing tax troubles in California, by reaching out to the online retailer’s business partners. In a public statement, Wal-Mart said that it was “committed to supporting the affiliate programmes which help to drive Walmart.com's online business.”