“The 7th annual South African eCommerce Awards sheds some light on how far eCommerce in South Africa has come. Websites are in tune with the increasing demands of this growing industry and are raising their standards year on year,”UAfrica said.
The top websites include:
- Yuppiechef winner of the Best eCommerce Store Award;
- Bidorbuy winner of the Best eCommerce Services Website Award;
- Groupon South Africa winner of the Best Group Buying Website Award;
- Property24 winner of the Best Classifieds Website Award;
- TravelGround winner of the Best Design, Standards & Ease of use Award;
- Yuppiechef winner of the Best Shopping Process Award;
- HomeChoice winner of The Public’s Favourite eCommerce Website Award.
Though the public voted for their favorite ecommerce websites, judges also evaluated the entries, taking note of customer experience throughout the shopping, level of customer care that companies provided and efficient delivery of services and goods that the companies offered.
“Social Media plays a large role in customer service, and it was great to see websites embracing this tool to answer product related queries, stock availability or customer complaints.” said Andy Higgins, the managing director of uAfrica.com.
The public was able to get in 114,000 votes during the process. One lucky winner walked away with an iPad.
The competition also noted a huge number of sites that have embraced mobile web and apps to deliver services to the growing mobile web users in South Africa.
“South Africans use their smartphones to gather information on products, compare prices and make purchases. A mobile site makes it easier for buyers to decide and make purchases online and with payment gateways, like PayFast, the transactions are secure,” Higgins said.
