2011 E-Commerce Award winners announced

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

2011 E-Commerce Award winners:

• Public's Favourite E-Commerce Website Award: Bid or Buy
  
• Best E-Commerce Store Award: Yuppiechef
  
• Best E-Commerce Services Website Award: Bid or Buy
  
• Best Group Buying Website Award: Groupon My City Deal
  
• Best Design, Standards & Ease of use Award: SafariNow.com
  
• Best Shopping Process Award: Yuppiechef

"E-Commerce in South Africa has seen a massive boost in the quality and standards of websites in 2011. The future of E-Commerce in South Africa looks brighter than ever," said Jaco Roux, Managing Director Jump Shopping.

Jump Shopping wanted to incentivise the public voting so together with ShopMaster an Apple iPad 2 was up for grabs to one lucky voter.

Jump Shopping outsourced the Design (Look and Feel) Evaluations to independent design company Cream of Creations. "We wanted a professional opinion from a company that specializes in this area. Jump Shopping had no involvement with regards to these ratings," said Roux.

The group buying concept is fairly new in South Africa and growing at an exceptional rate. Many new Group Buying sites have emerged over the last year, so with this in mind Jump Shopping felt it was important to recognise the contributions to E-Commerce in South Africa by adding the Award for Best Group Buying Website.

"We were impressed that more online shops have rolled out mobile sites or mobile apps in the last year, showing us that the competing websites understand where E-Commerce in South Africa is heading and that they are right on track with keeping up with this growing market. I do think that mobile interfaces could be improved, and this is an area that shops need to focus on in 2012," commented Roux.

Community building via social networking seems to have taken off, with websites expanding their customer base through engaging with their communities and involving them in product reviews, forums and competitions. Jump Shopping is happy to see that the E-Commerce websites in South Africa are taking notice of this marketing opportunity and using it to their advantage.

Another area that seems to be a focus point for E-Commerce websites is delivery. Jump Shopping was impressed with the fast reliable delivery that the competing websites offer. A number of websites seem to understand the importance of the "delivery experience" and added personalized touches to the parcels. Yuppiechef, Simplicity Online, Prophecy Shop and Greenlove being amongst those that added in a "little extra" to ensure a satisfied customer.

Jump Shopping is one of South Africa's leading price comparison website and started the E-Commerce Awards in 2006 as a bid to uplift E-Commerce in South Africa. The awards have proven to be immensely successful as the public and the E-Commerce companies have embraced them to be the most prestigious recognition for E-Commerce websites in South Africa.