Online trade – “Department Store Austria” now with e-commerce promotion on offer

The failed online retailer directory “Kaufhaus Österreich” of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Chamber of Commerce now lives on as an information platform for retailers. As of today, Saturday, 10 million e-commerce funding will be available via www.kaufhaus-oesterreich.at, as announced by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

With a non-repayable grant, the public sector financially supports online trade projects of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 20 percent of the project costs of at least 3,000 and a maximum of 60,000 euros are funded. Applications for funding can be submitted until October 31, 2021. The SME digital funding of the Ministry of Economic Affairs in cooperation with the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, totaling 5 million euros, is due to start again shortly.

The online retailer directory of “Kaufhaus Österreich” and the shop search function were discontinued in February after around two months, the state-run Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) then took over the operation of the website on behalf of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The Chamber of Commerce withdrew from the project. The opposition has criticized the cost of up to 1.3 million euros for the “Department Store Austria” and called for the resignation of Economics Minister Margarete Schramböck (ÖVP). Schramböck has rejected the criticism of the costs. Only the search function was not implemented well. (apa)