Recently launched as an e-commerce pit stop for unique beauty and fashion products, LushBerry offers online shoppers high-end, affordable products.
Through the affiliate South African network AdMarula, an affiliate programme will enable sharing LushBerry links online to refer traffic.
Shares will be rewarded by discount offers on LushBerry sales items for customer direction.
The campaign is also said to give the e-commerce industry in South Africa a boost.
Speaking to HumanIPO Bernadette Homor, founder of LushBerry, said: “It’s not a next Zando and it’s not another 36Boutiques, but it is rather… visually appealing and aesthetically pleasing because you want to create a visual experience, which I think is lacking in South Africa.”
Homor explained the challenges of online fashion and beauty trade in the country as alluding to a risk-averse internet shopping community.
“People in South Africa are still quite conscious about how much they spend online so people’s shopping basket value is still quite low as versus when they go out to a physical store,” Homor said.
LushBerry’s quality control and individual attention to customers, however, helps provide an efficient service without compromising on time effective deliveries within less than a week.
Although its main target market is viewed as females between the ages of 25 and 50 residing in Johannesburg and Cape Town, deliveries throughout Africa is also possible with a few time and currency adjustments.
LushBerry also offers exposure to local designers for beauty products, clothing, jewellery and other accessories.
“I’ve got a few smaller designers who are trying to launch their brand on the site so I think LushBerry is a platform to them to promote their products, to get their brand known and for online presence.”
Homor believes online presence is essential for designers as it broadens their target audience, especially in areas where there might not be a lot of brand variety.
The fashion industry is the most difficult online marketed field, the online expert commented.
“People have such different tastes, fashion changes so quickly,” she said, giving reasons for its tough reputation.
Social media and competitions are employed for interaction with site visitors as an essential facet in brand building.
Competitions assist in making the virtual site more real “so people can see there are real people working behind the website and that prizes are genuine,” Homor said.
As for social networking, the founder sees it as “vital”, though not a sure bet for gaining purchasing customers.
LushBerry also makes use of a secure payment gateway for purchases, enabling customers to transact with major credit cards, or use TFT and EFT as alternatives.
