New online veterinary store Fetch is making it easier for pet owners to buy animal products with a few clicks, pushing at the boundaries of e-commerce in South Africa.
Dr. Susan De Witt, a vet at the Fishhoek Veterinary Clinic in Cape Town, South Africa, told HumanIPO her journey as a vet led her to conceive of the idea of enabling customers to buy products for their pets online, in an extension of the vet services that provide “another wing of information”.
“You have to have a healthy dose of passion for what you do,” De Witt said in an interview.
De Witt is of opinion that South Africa is still behind in openness to online shopping in general, comparing English activity in online shopping with that in South Africa.
“We are on the brink of getting there,” she said. Internet access is not considered an obstacle, and neither is mobile configuration of the site.
De Witt explained that being a good vet is about relationships, and therefore online retail is not viewed as a replacement. She pointed out that the act of shopping itself has a social aspect to it which cannot be ignored, and though online shopping is different from shopping for food and clothes, special care has been taken to make the website as personal as possible.
The aim of the site is to add a convenience factor for the order and purchase of products. The Fetch is team will work constantly on the site to improve its user friendliness.
“We might become the Amazon in vet products,” De Witt says with regard to the future of the online store.
Features set to be added in future include pet life stage categorisation, export and import possibilities and order repeat options.
De Witt also wants to give back with with corporate social investment. Approximately 10 percent of profit will go to start-ups or other charity cases.
