Joburg replaces London as Orange service hub for SADC

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Due to the larger than expected growth of the South African online store, the company confirms that it will launch further online stores for Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique and Swaziland. All online store sales within the SADC region will be serviced from the regional hub in Johannesburg.

Sebastien Crozier, CEO, Orange Horizons states, "The adoption of the online store since it launched in South Africa in January 2013 has exceeded all expectations and makes this hub a necessity.

"It will allow for faster delivery of products to the local market and further confirms the company's commitment to the South African and SADC regions. It will negate time requirements for customer clearance and will enhance the customer click-to-delivery service experience."

It also expects good demand from operators in the SADC region. The store will generate several million euros in sales this year, says Crozier. "We think it's going to be an opportunity to develop our business and our turnover and to settle Johannesburg as a local hub. It's also an opportunity for us to offer a large range of products, with devices you don't find locally very easily."

The establishment of the warehouse is one of many planned initiatives, many of which will launch later this year and into 2015. This is in addition to the WiFi project, currently running with African Eagle Tourism in Cape Town, which will soon be extended to other tourism hubs in South Africa, the global Top-Up service that allows for easy, secure and online voice and data top-up transfers across borders and existing online store and online video content portal through DailyMotion.

"It is very important that the company becomes recognised as local, with the warehouse, the online store and the country manager are all situated within South Africa," concludes Crozier. For more information, go to www.orange.com/za.