Makro, which has a 25-year history in the wholesale industry, recently took the next step in trading - into the virtual shopping arena.
Overall, the site is easily navigated, although a search engine wouldn`t hurt. The home page provides snippets of the latest news and special offers, and navigation bars anchored to top and bottom of the pages makes it relatively easy to jump from section to section.
There is, of course, a catch. As the site constantly reminds the casual surfer, you cannot shop at Makro without a Makro card. You can apply for your Makro card online - if you`re not too fussy about security protocols, that is. There is no clear security or privacy statement, so you`ll just have to cross your fingers and fill in the application form.
Another worrisome factor is that the fields in the application form do not automatically clear if you link to another page on the site, so the sensitive information you`ve already volunteered in the form of name, address, contact numbers, and more especially, ID number, remain cached on your browser unless you manually clear the fields.
The store claims to have over 36 000 big brand items under one roof. Unfortunately, the demo version of the e-commerce module does not display pricing of the products - which means that one can`t make an informed decision to register as a Makro shopper.
You can therefore not even browse the site to see if it may be relevant or of use to your business without first registering - which seems to me to be a somewhat devious ploy to increase the registered user base - regardless of how many of those registered users actually make regular purchases.
Once you`ve registered, you`ll receive a virtual card right away, which the company promises will allow you to take immediate advantage of your nearest Makro. That may hold true in the real world, but for virtual shopping, registered users will have to access the site using their card number and a password - but at no point in the registration process is it clearly defined where you can retrieve the password, or how it is meant to reach you.
I hazarded a call to the customer care number supplied, and although the operators tried to connect me to the man in charge, he was unavailable. My details were duly recorded, and the promise of a return phone call made.
At the time of going to print, I hadn`t yet heard from the man in the know.
There is also a hefty disclaimer, which made me very nervous, and which pops up when you first try to enter the e-commerce section of the site. Unfortunately, I can`t elaborate on this, as it seems that having seen it once, the site no longer posts it after the first attempt at entering the e-commerce section.
The site has seen some improvements since it initially went live, but it could definitely do with some more tweaking if it is to meet the standards to which online shoppers have grown accustomed.
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