Kalahari.net has achieved a monthly turnover of over R1.2 million since its recent relaunch. This, says Susan van der Schijff, manager of Kalahari.net, is indicative of the inroads e-commerce has made in SA.
"Although the significant increase in turnover is a result of the company`s repositioning, the fact than an increasing number of people shop on the Internet has definitely been a contributing factor," says Van der Schijff.
"In 1998 research indicated that 900 000 South Africans use the Internet and 43% indicated that they have shopped online. It is obvious that these numbers have since increased significantly."
"Doing business on the Internet is here to stay," says Van der Schijff. "In the USA the Internet economy doubled in one year from US$ 15,5 billion in 1996 to almost US$ 39 billion in 1997. This is expected to increase to US$ 350 billion by 2001, according to the Progressive Policy Institute, based in Washington DC."
The online retail site underwent major changes during the past few months and now sports a new look, expanded product range and updated technology.
"We decided not to limit ourselves to the selling of books online, but to have a more aggressive marketing approach, selling a wide spectrum of products to online consumers. Currently we already host Microsoft online.
"So, in addition to books, music and videos, all Microsoft products can be purchased on our site. The decision to considerably expand our product range has proven to be very popular with existing and new online shoppers."
Kalahari.net also restructured its site contents and navigational aspects. "We believe that the fact that we have been able to extensively grow turnover in such a short period of time, can also be contributed to the ease and convenience associated with using our site."
"In South Africa, Kalahari.net paved the way for online bookselling. We believe this experience and our solid performance give us a definite advantage in the e-commerce business environment. We can now further develop and build on this strong base and successfully expand this business in the Naspers group."
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