Harvey hurt by buyer backlash

Mr Harvey has conceded that the launch of full-page advertisements during the Boxing Day sales period was ''bad timing'' and that the retailers' message had been poorly communicated.

He said the rise of social media such as Twitter and Facebook had increased the ''vicious and hateful'' attacks against him and a fellow retail boss, Solomon Lew.

Mr Lew led the campaign, involving a coalition of retail companies, most of which are owned by the Lew family, which called on the government to end the GST exemption on imported goods worth less than $1000.

''You might have got a nasty phone call or a letter back in the old days but now anything slightly controversial, these people, whoever they might be, they go for you zealously and with hatred all over Twitter,'' Mr Harvey said. ''If you are a CEO of a company and you speak out and then the board gets involved … it is suicidal.

''Because of my profile, I then get all these threats and people hone in on me. It becomes me, Gerry Harvey and Solomon Lew - billionaires, greedy, ugly, old, out-of-date c---s, and the people writing this seem to think we have been ripping them off for years and that we deserve this.''

Two new full-page ads are still expected to go ahead this week despite Mr Harvey's retreat, which could significantly affect the group's ability to present a united front and convince the public of its argument.

The federal government has commissioned a review of retailing by the Productivity Commission. Mr Harvey said the gripe of the retailing coalition was not about ''online retail versus bricks and mortar'' but rather about closing a tax loophole that did not support Australian jobs or the economy.

''What we are talking about is someone buying a guitar in New York, for instance, and having it sent over here 30 per cent cheaper. It is giving that overseas retailer the advantage.''