Amazon is our biggest threat: Wesfarmers

 Wesfarmers boss Richard Goyder believes US online retailing giant Amazon is the biggest threat to his company.

The CEO of the conglomerate that runs Coles, Target and Bunnings says when he thinks about his biggest competitor, it's not Woolworths or Big W that comes to mind.

"I think Amazon. I think Amazon is the biggest threat we've got to our business model at the moment," Mr Goyder told the National Press Club in Canberra.

He does not expect the business landscape to stay the same in the future and it will have to adapt, be fast moving, innovative and more competitive.

"I think we are in a more competitive world than we have ever been."

Mr Goyder, who recently chaired the Sydney meeting of the B20 meeting -- the business arm of the G20 that is under Australian presidency in 2014 -- also wants a level playing field.

He said the B20 supports the G20's efforts to combat profit-shifting that is employed by big international companies like Amazon.

He said there was clear support for tax being paid in the jurisdictions that profits are earned.

But it is up to finance ministers and central bankers to work out how that is collected.

"If I was the treasurer I would be concerned about that in terms of Australia's fiscal position," Mr Goyder said.

He also believes there should be a level playing field for GST on foreign goods bought online.

These are currently GST-free under $1000.

"If we have to pay GST, everyone should have to pay GST, it's a simple as that," he said.

"By the way, I wouldn't mind being able to operate our businesses 24/7 as well, but that's a totally different story."

The 20 recommendations from the B20 were handed to the political leaders of the group, which are aimed at economic growth and the creation of jobs.

He said if the G20 countries were to commit to just four of the trade specific reforms put forward it could lead to something like an increase of $4.3 trillion per annum of global GDP.

"It's like adding another Germany to the globe," he said.

Australia's G20 presidency ends in November with the leaders meeting Brisbane.