Shopping comparison sites in SA
I work and have worked with some of the big players in the shopping comparison industry globally, and have been keeping track of South African e-commerce since my days at Varsity.
Recently there have been a few comparison sites sprout up in SA, all of whom (IMO) are falling into the same traps as the industry leaders worldwide. In defense of the industry leaders these faults are not unknown to them and exist due to the historical nature of their business, and the architecture of their sites.
South African companies are adopting a serious sheep mentality when developing their sites. Now I fully understand that they are of the thinking ‘if it works, don’t fix it’, but surely when embarking on setting up a business you would have consulted with people with experience to see the shortfalls and constraints of a particular system. As this blog develops I will be giving a critique of the comparison sites in SA, and giving readers a greater insight into the inner workings of the shopping comparison industry to better explain what I mean by shortfalls and constraints.
Compliments to some South African New Media evangelists
Mike Stopforth and Dave Duarte have just released the second installment of their podcast Amplitude. I have been an avid reader of both these guys for a while now, and the podcast is excellent. You don’t have to be geek to enjoy their show, and the conversational style does not fail to still engage the audience. If you’re new to New Media, these guys offer an great insight to the going’s on in the industry. They are also a great source for me to keep abreast of the development of the industry in South Africa, as being 6000 miles away can leave you a little out of the loop. Keep up the good work guys!
Barriers to South Africa joining the 2.0 revolution
There are a few I can mention here but for this post I will point out just the one, which I feel is the biggest. Broadband penetration.
I know this is not an original thought, just my 5 cents worth:
The cost of true broadband in SA is a joke. To give you an idea I pay £30 a month for 20 meg broadband. This is by no means the cheapest or to be honest the best provider, but it works for me.
In order to fully utilise the web these days you really need to be getting over 1 meg, and in the UK I don’t think any provider offers less that 2 megs. In fact you can get free broadband at that speed. Once the broadband market is allowed to flourish, that is when we will see South African solutions take off.
