Takealot's dominance in South Africa explained

[Pineapple Smurf]

Takealot does this.

Yup, a friend had his fridge exchanged by the courier guy sent by Takealot and then took old fridge with.
Now thats service, and why I often dont mind paying a little extra just so that for peace of mind I know I am dealing with a legit company that honours their after sales support

 

[Swa]

Jealousy makes you nasty

Just because they are successful!

On the contrary, there are legitimate grievances that should be looked at. Takealot didn't build anything up to be successful. They merely get regular cash injections from another monopolistic entity to do what they do. It's a model that's collapsing and it's leaving a lot of collateral in its ashes.

Takealot were able to run at a loss to achieve dominance. Now that they are more expensive you find people abusing that system. Everybody that does that and still complain that Takealot is the best is part of the problem. Sure other players aren't stepping up but if you go through the history you'll see that the ones who did have closed down because they couldn't compete with Takealot's practices.

We need smaller retailers. Takealot can't compete on service, no large retailer can because they don't understand the products. Go to game and purchase a scanner for instance. I've had the experience where they simply repeat what I asked in my questions and had no technical clue about he product.

People don't understand this and that it costs money to provide support. They are flabbergasted that you can't sell something at the same price as Takealot so they buy it there. And then when the **** hits the fan they call on you for advice. Sorry but nothing is free and you get what you're paying for so either be prepared to pay more or pay for my work.

Yeah but still, that's called collusion and it's extremely illegal.

It's not. It's in the contract that you have to abide by their RSP. Collusion is when multiple entities work together to charge the same or higher prices. It's a bit of a shady practice when there isn't preferential pricing but on the other hand it can also be a good thing when it prevents large retailers from undercutting smaller ones.

 

[TEXTILE GUY]

“Business is business and I can’t point out anything that I’ve noticed being particularly unfair in their business practice to get to the position that they’re in,” it added.

IMHO

Service is the key to success.

Personally, I would spend a bit more for better service. I cant justify paying the salary of a rude staff member, and hate arguing with a staff member when things go wrong, and getting the fake "sorrrry".

Makro, checking my till slip because they don't trust their cashiers ...........

 

[j4ck455]

I am going to take a stab at guessing who the losers are:
Store 1: Loot
Store 2: Makro
Store 3: Raru

The above said, I've noticed that especially in electronics Takealots pricing is really bad, and their continue to be unethical practices of telling you something is x% off when actually it's just the regular price. Like even Incredible Connection have better pricing on items now! Black Friday will once again be a bit of a con for the gullible.

People really need to check pricing before they buy anything anywhere, I have often found the same product advertised on Takealot cheaper elsewhere.

That said, in my experience Takelot delivers almost always on time (a few exceptions) where other sites tend to fail on timely fulfilment of orders.

 

[Jeeper]

I personally had good experiences with Takealot but I must also say there were two that were really disappointing and it seems that they hold back on negative reviews for some of the products. Those are the Whish like products you buy on their site trusting its good quality.

Then again, I must say that I’ve had really bad experiences with places like MX24, Premium Steel and others where I had to wait 2+ months for an order and that is if it was fulfilled.

At this stage Geewiz is my go-to place as far as possible.

 

[Swa]

I am going to take a stab at guessing who the losers are:
Store 1: Loot
Store 2: Makro
Store 3: Raru

Why Loot?

 

[lkswan747]

On the contrary, there are legitimate grievances that should be looked at. Takealot didn't build anything up to be successful. They merely get regular cash injections from another monopolistic entity to do what they do. It's a model that's collapsing and it's leaving a lot of collateral in its ashes.

Takealot were able to run at a loss to achieve dominance. Now that they are more expensive you find people abusing that system. Everybody that does that and still complain that Takealot is the best is part of the problem. Sure other players aren't stepping up but if you go through the history you'll see that the ones who did have closed down because they couldn't compete with Takealot's practices.

We need smaller retailers. Takealot can't compete on service, no large retailer can because they don't understand the products. Go to game and purchase a scanner for instance. I've had the experience where they simply repeat what I asked in my questions and had no technical clue about he product.

People don't understand this and that it costs money to provide support. They are flabbergasted that you can't sell something at the same price as Takealot so they buy it there. And then when the **** hits the fan they call on you for advice. Sorry but nothing is free and you get what you're paying for so either be prepared to pay more or pay for my work.


It's not. It's in the contract that you have to abide by their RSP. Collusion is when multiple entities work together to charge the same or higher prices. It's a bit of a shady practice when there isn't preferential pricing but on the other hand it can also be a good thing when it prevents large retailers from undercutting smaller ones.

Sounds like a competitor eating sour grapes?

 

[Swa]

Sounds like a competitor eating sour grapes?

Who?

 

[j4ck455]

Why Loot?

Store 1 came across as the sore loser, that is the impression I have of Loot which has been known to fail dismally on order fulfilment and refunds. Although the same could be said of Makro (online order fulfilment, allegedly getting better lately).

Store 1 said the Commission had dropped the ball massively in terms of Takealot.

“Numerous complaints about their anti-competitive behaviour have been lodged, but only now do they actively show an interest in investigating their market dominance? Only once the damage is already done?”

Store 3 had the most to gripe about how lenient Takealot was with returns and how this hurts lesser endowed online stores.

 

[boboudts]

its strange sometimes searching for items on takealot, multiple prices for the same item, most annoying thing is when i only find it after ive purchased.

best return policy ive experienced was the courier showing up with the replacement item and takes your return item. but this was in the uk. my mind was blown. lol

have a friend that does automation and audio/video things, his client bought some stuff from takealot after making him requote a few times to try and beat takealot prices, not telling him he is quoting against takealot... when a device failed he phoned my friend and asked if he could return it to the supplier for him because takealot was giving issues. what a tit some people are. naturally he told the guy he should sort out his purchase where he bought it, he wouldve happily helped if it was purchased through him.

They don't set the price, they create a marketing platform for suppliers whose prices differ...click on "see other offers" when next you visit their site for heaven's sake!

 

[boboudts]

Store 1 came across as the sore loser, that is the impression I have of Loot which has been known to fail dismally on order fulfilment and refunds. Although the same could be said of Makro (online order fulfilment, allegedly getting better lately).



Store 3 had the most to gripe about how lenient Takealot was with returns and how this hurts lesser endowed online stores.

...and your point is?.....clearly anticonsumer rights, ne?

 

[boboudts]

As far as I know, Takealot are still making a loss though Covid probably has them busier than ever. Their model was predicated on burning through cash to provide the best service / lowest prices possible to capture as much market share as possible. Very Amazon-like.

Not sure what the Competition Commission wants them to do ultimately...raise their prices? Stop selling so much stuff? This is a pretty good example of a government department sticking their fingers in something they don't understand.

ANC communist central control demands the concept of the lowest common denominator.

 

[boboudts]

I am going to take a stab at guessing who the losers are:
Store 1: Loot
Store 2: Makro
Store 3: Raru


People really need to check pricing before they buy anything anywhere, I have often found the same product advertised on Takealot cheaper elsewhere.

That said, in my experience Takelot delivers almost always on time (a few exceptions) where other sites tend to fail on timely fulfilment of orders.

Takealot DON'T set the prices, they manage the platform for anyone, including the smal guy to sell their wares...Recently I got a cracking deal on memory being sold on their platform by a small PC shop in Polokwane, who but for their participation in the Takealot platform, wouldn't have made the sale.

 

[noxibox]

I love the irony of using the Competition Commission to stop competition.

On the contrary using them to ensure competition.

 

[noxibox]

ANC communist central control demands the concept of the lowest common denominator.

Besides the ANC being very much capitalists this has nothing to do with central control or lowest common denominator.

 

[j4ck455]

Takealot DON'T set the prices, they manage the platform for anyone, including the smal guy to sell their wares...Recently I got a cracking deal on memory being sold on their platform by a small PC shop in Polokwane, who but for their participation in the Takealot platform, wouldn't have made the sale.

That is a half-truth: Takealot is both a seller of products in its own catalogue, as well as a platform for other sellers, and it is also the reason for the following:

its strange sometimes searching for items on takealot, multiple prices for the same item, most annoying thing is when i only find it after ive purchased.

the same product can be sold by different sellers on Takealot, as well as by Takealot itself, and the pricing should be different.

 

[krycor]

If anything Takealot has at least improved the bar set in terms of delivery and service from online stores. I'm not quite sure how I feel though about market dominance and the future ramifications are in the hands of Naspers though.

it never works out well and stifles innovation tbh. This is why US has the problems it has.. Capitalism only works in a regulated environment. People who claim otherwise will die waiting to find an example of it.. it doesnt exist. The US is an example of how it doesnt btw.

 

[JustJack]

IMHO

Service is the key to success.

Personally, I would spend a bit more for better service. I cant justify paying the salary of a rude staff member, and hate arguing with a staff member when things go wrong, and getting the fake "sorrrry".

Makro, checking my till slip because they don't trust their cashiers ...........

Makro, checking my till slip because they don't trust their cashiers ...........

I tell them to get frucked

 

[Swa]

Store 1 came across as the sore loser, that is the impression I have of Loot which has been known to fail dismally on order fulfilment and refunds. Although the same could be said of Makro (online order fulfilment, allegedly getting better lately).



Store 3 had the most to gripe about how lenient Takealot was with returns and how this hurts lesser endowed online stores.

I've never gotten anything but good service from Loot. Even replaced an item that I broke. My last order was sent in 3 days when some items had a week lead time.

 

[Swa]

it never works out well and stifles innovation tbh. This is why US has the problems it has.. Capitalism only works in a regulated environment. People who claim otherwise will die waiting to find an example of it.. it doesnt exist. The US is an example of how it doesnt btw.

No pure model works. Capitalism is simply the best option we have.