Coronavirus lockdown has dealt a hard blow to online stores in South Africa

[Hanno Labuschagne]

Coronavirus lockdown has dealt a hard blow to online stores in South Africa

The coronavirus pandemic and the national lockdown have had a big impact on South African online retailers.

Many retailers have stopped operating altogether, with others only providing essential services as required by lockdown regulations.

This means that sales revenues will drop for many local stores, especially those who do not stock essential items.

 

[lived666]

Bizarre that the government shut down what would be the safest and best way to trade in a social shutdown, but then again, they still pondering cooked chicken, priorities I suppose.

 

[Mephisto_Helix]

And the opposite is true here, they are flourishing

 

[Joe Average]

What I find a bit strange is that the online shops have different offerings under "Essential Goods" - One can purchase a monitor from Wootware or EveTech, but not TakeALot (can't even search for it). One can even walk into GAME and buy a monitor... so, maybe its TakeALot's own fault that they are applying the restrictions too strongly?

 

[Unhappy1]

Bizarre that the government shut down what would be the safest and best way to trade in a social shutdown, but then again, they still pondering cooked chicken, priorities I suppose.

They havent shut down ecommerce?

 

[Choppie81]

Don't know if anyone has ordered from Wootware but their website says they are operational for online orders. They seem to be taking advantage of that and most prices have increased by about 20%

Trying to build a pc and with the 7 parts I want they come in at about R2500 more than anyone else. Don't know how that will help their business in the long run.

 

[Thor]

This is actually a frustrating article. We had a real opportunity here to push e-commerce forward a decade and create a consumer mind shift, but like everything else, we blew it.

 

[hippynox]

Don't know if anyone has ordered from Wootware but their website says they are operational for online orders. They seem to be taking advantage of that and most prices have increased by about 20%

Trying to build a pc and with the 7 parts I want they come in at about R2500 more than anyone else. Don't know how that will help their business in the long run.

This is due to the exchange rate/suppliers

 

[Lupus]

Don't know if anyone has ordered from Wootware but their website says they are operational for online orders. They seem to be taking advantage of that and most prices have increased by about 20%

Trying to build a pc and with the 7 parts I want they come in at about R2500 more than anyone else. Don't know how that will help their business in the long run.

Try 40% or higher in some cases.

 

[Dave]

And the opposite is true here, they are flourishing

True, some brick and mortar stores like Currys are even pushing their online ordering and home delivery service in all their ads.

 

[Leno]

What I find a bit strange is that the online shops have different offerings under "Essential Goods" - One can purchase a monitor from Wootware or EveTech, but not TakeALot (can't even search for it). One can even walk into GAME and buy a monitor... so, maybe its TakeALot's own fault that they are applying the restrictions to strongly?

Maybe Takealot are only listing products that they can source from their qualified suppliers during lock down