Local online retailers are expecting a boom in business triggered by an inevitable slump in sales for Amazon after the US giant imposed courier fees on deliveries to SA.
Relentless thefts by Post Office workers targeting Amazon parcels have prompted it to stop using the postal service, so customers have to pay an astronomical courier charge.
“Without a doubt there is an opportunity for us in this,” said Gary Hatfield, CEO of local retailer Kalahari.net. “We were definitely head-to-head out there. We had a superior market share but Amazon is the chief adversary with a substantial market share in this territory.”
Hatfield said it was impossible to calculate how many South African customers Amazon had, or what they spent, but the numbers would plummet now that they would have to pay about R420 to have a DVD delivered.
Kalahari has always used couriers to deliver its goods. Shoppers generally pay R29 an order, with those worth more than R350 delivered free. “We always felt it was difficult to manage customers' expectations even if they chose that delivery option. They see the internet as something immediate so we have stayed away from the Post Office,” he said.
Amazon has not responded to a request for comment but the Post Office will contact it to see if the relationship can be restored. “This was a surprise and it's regrettable that we got to know about it when a decision had already been made. It's something we want to sort out fast,” said communications general manager Lungile Lose.
It also wanted to work with other postal services around the world that handled the parcels before they reached SA to see where the problems lay, he said.
But since SA is the only African country to have postal deliveries boycotted, Amazon obviously believes the thefts are perpetrated in SA. Lose said if that was the case, the Post Office would have to prove it could be trusted. “If Amazon parcels stand out, obviously someone will go for them, which is why we need to work out what improvements we can put in.”
The Post Office has introduced several anti-fraud measures, including more cameras in its sorting depots. It has set up a hotline so staff can tip off a special investigation team. “We are seeing an increase in the number of reported incidents and it's good that we are able to get a prosecution or a dismissal against employees,” Lose said. Another tactic was to tell the staff how theft was harming the organisation and putting their jobs at risk.
The challenge facing local websites is to prove to customers making the switch that they offer the expected quality of service, including the speed at which pages download, the range of search facilities, the ease of making payments and the speed of delivery.
Simon Swanich is expecting many more customers for his website Have2Have.co.za. “We have an office in the US where we can receive Amazon shipments and send them directly to SA much faster and cheaper than when ordered directly.”
Swanich claimed users who compared Amazon's prices with local sites would see the value Have2Have offered. It had been SA's first online mall to import directly from the US and in record time at the best prices. Deliveries cost R80 for the first 2kg, and R16 an extra kilo.
Some local internet stores were so good that they eliminated the need to use foreign sites at all, said Internet Solutions founder Ronnie Apteker. “We have some cool spots right here in our backyard, and the shipping costs are a non-event.”
Amazon had long refused to deliver high-priced items to SA and Apple's iTunes shop refused to accept South African credit cards. “It was starting to freak me out until I discovered our homegrown offerings. Local is lekker,” Apteker said.
Source: Business Day
Published courtesy of
