Gearing up for holiday season

Says Gary Hadfield, CEO of kalahari.net, "As a recent article by E-Commerce Times rightly noted, shoppers can expect a lot of changes from online shopping sites, but the biggest changes will take place behind the scenes. An increased focus on search engine optimisation and merchandising are, for example, but some of the measures that kalahari.net has put in place to ensure customer awareness and satisfaction."

According to Hadfield, one of the biggest drives for kalahari.net in the pre-holiday period has been to reduce delivery times by up to 50%. "We know that our customers demand instant gratification. Together with our 24-hour delivery option on selected top products, we have now also been able to negotiate shorter delivery times on both international and local products."

Commenting on the addition of new products to the site, Hadfield says, "There is fine balance to be struck between adhering to customers' demands and doing what makes business sense. Adding products to the site that are not within our core product range requires a lot of investigation and negotiation to get the right supply chain in place. Only once we are satisfied that we can deliver the best product to our customers, will we add the product to our site."

Kalahari.net recently launched a jewellery and watch shop that is backed by wholesaler Eterniti Jewellery, which sources the majority of its fine jewellery from OroAfrica. OroAfrica is reputed to be the largest manufacturer and wholesaler of jewellery in South Africa and is partly owned by Anglogold.

For Hadfield, it is all about the combination of a well-structured merchandise and marketing programme with a focus on getting the basics right. "We continuously focus our energy on improving the customer experience by adding features and product ranges to our site and streamlining our existing core business," he stresses.

Together with the new jewellery shop, kalahari.net offers books, music, DVDs, games, electronics, cameras, health products, craft products, gift shop and gift vouchers, and currently has over 350 000 customers.