“This year, TFG has focused on four new services requested by our customers. These are EFT payments, option to collect online orders from other TFG stores, introduction of online furniture sale, and enabling log in via social media profiles such as Facebook,” says Robyn Cooke, head of TFG eCommerce.
“By listening to our consumers, our average order values have gone up by 17% and we are managing to grow our sales, despite economic pressures in the retail sector.”
The addition of EFTs as a payment method has seen cash purchases increase and they now account for 34% of all TFG online purchases.
Following requests from customers unable to receive packages at work or at home during work hours, the group is trialling the Collect-In-Store delivery option, to give online shoppers the flexibility to collect parcels at their most convenient store within an 8-day period.
Customers can shop across 13 online stores, checkout in one bag and then choose to collect their purchases at their nearest @home, Foschini, Markham, Sportscene or Totalsports store. For example, they can buy sneakers from Sportscene online, but collect the shoes at a Markham or Foschini for Beauty store near their office during their lunch hour or during their daily commute to and from work.
The service is in the proof of concept phase, with the trial having launched in the Western Cape in June this year but current figures indicate a very positive uptake by shoppers so TFG expects the Collect-In-Store option to roll out nationwide.
Within two months of going live with furniture sales on @home online, the e-commerce store is now the most popular and most shopped @home store nationwide.
This functionality has been added to all its online sites, offering customers the added convenience of using their Facebook or Google Plus profiles to sign in and shop. This is useful if customers have forgotten their login details. Within three days of going live, TFG says a quarter of all online sign ups were through Facebook, with not one phone call received by the customer call centre to report issues with the service.
