Last week I discussed elements which are important to an e-Commerce site as an introduction to South African online sales success. Now it’s time to look at some big names in the country’s retail industry.

What are South African online retailers doing to keep us browsing and spending money? Lets take a look…

Our Three Sites Under the Microscope

Ratings are out of five:

	Woolworths	Kalahari.net	Pick n Pay
Navigation
Current location within the site is shown clearly	2	4	2
Link to the site’s main page is clearly identified	4	4	4
Major/important parts of the site are directly accessible from the main page	4	4	4
Site map is provided for a large, complex site	0	0	0
Easy to use search function is provided, as needed	3	4	2.5
Language and Content
Important information and tasks are given prominence.	4	4	4
Information of low relevance or rarely used information is not included	3	4	4
Related information or tasks are grouped:	0	3	0
on the same page or menu:	0	3	3
in the same area within a page:	0	3	0
Language is simple, without jargon	4	4	4
Paragraphs are brief	4	4	4
Links are concise, expressive, and visible - not buried in text	4	4	4
Terms are defined	4	4	4
Architectural and Visual Clarity
Site is organised from the user’s perspective	2.5	4	3.5
Site is easily scannable for organization and meaning	4	4	4
Site design and layout is straightforward and concise	3	4	3
White space is sufficient; pages are not too dense	3	4	3
Unnecessary animation is avoided	4	4	4
Colours used for visited and unvisited links are easily seen and understood	0	0	0

*Many of you may recognise this table, adapted from the one in the free Quirk eMarketing textbook - eMarketing: the essential guide to online marketing, which was inspired by the MIT checklist.

 

 
Woolworths Online Shop
www.woolworths.co.za

Average Click Path: Select product>select quantity>add to basket>checkout>(extensive)delivery options
Payment Methods: Woolworths store card, credit card or voucher

The site is well laid out and relatively easy to navigate. The onsite space is well used, with the home page divided into triptychs of special offers, gift ideas and other enticing calls to action – the site was hailed as the South African e-Commerce Awards ‘Best Food and Wine Store’ of 2008.

The copy is short and clear and still conveys the Woolworths brand – while the products themselves include additional information such as recipes and nutritional information.

When defining delivery preferences, all efforts have been made to make it easier for both parties. The form is straightforward and interestingly they also clearly note that no alcohol deliveries made me made at certain times due to South African liquor laws. 

• No logical URL structure, no breadcrumb links
• No visible sitemap
• Little in Search Engine optimisation
• PageRank: 4/10
• Alexa Rank: 42 573
• Load time at 128K: 18.18 seconds *
• Does not W3C validate
• SSL Certified

Design: 7/10
Usability: 7/10
Personality: 8/10

*Load times from websiteoptimization.com

 

Kalahari.net
www.kalahari.net

Average Click Path: Select product>Add to basket>Checkout>Confirm delivery options>Checkout
Payment Methods: Voucher, Loyalty Card, Credit Card, EFT, eBucks, Eduloan payment and Standard Bank Autopay

Let’s face it, Kalahari.net is a site designed to browse, mainly due to its luxury and leisure based products. The SA e-Commerce awards’ ‘Best Online Bookstore’ and ‘Best online game store’ 2008 winner has an astonishingly simple and effective search function. There is limitless info on each product – both official and consumer generated reviews and comments – recommended products and combined packages and a great use of space. The navigation and usability of the site makes it easy to spend money. 

• No sitemap
• PageRank: 6/10
• Alexa Rank: 6 513
• Load time at 128K: 25.00 seconds
• 381 W3C validation errors, 2 warnings
• SSL Certified

 

Pick n Pay
www.pnponline.co.za

Average Click Path: Book Delivery Time>Select Product>Confirm Trolley>(Lengthy) Checkout
Payment Options: Credit card, Visa, Mastercard, Diners card, GoBanking, ‘International’ card and ‘signature-based debit cards’

Strangely, Pick n Pay struck me as the easiest to use, apart from a few complaints during my address registration (which took 24hours to validate) and the annoying pop-up trolley – but they have a few handy features such as the ‘My List’ section which I’m sure would make my monthly grocery shop just that much easier.

There was little to distract me from the next step in the process, and it saved me a walk to the Checkers down the road. What Kalahari.net and Woolworths both have in abundance but Pick n Pay lacks is charm and interactivity (other than the Recipe Centre). There is little shopping entertainment value, and little to make you want to see more products, or get excited about what you’re looking at. The simplicity seems to overshadow sales.

From a consumers point of view, we’re at the stage, even in South Africa, where online shopping has incredible potential. Personally, I’d use Pick n Pay’s convenient online shop in my daily life, even though it does feel a bit like shopping via Usenet or a Windows 95 installation wizard. 

• No logical URL structure, no breadcrumb links
• No visible sitemap
• PageRank: N/A
• Alexa Rank: N/A
• Load time at 128K: 32.83 seconds
• 132 W3C validation errors, 6 warnings
• SSL Certified

Conclusion
I was hoping to include more about Social Media in this post, but further research didn’t uncover much in the lines of SMO, or even SEM penetration. No Woolworths ‘Dinner Party’ shopping Facebook apps or anything fancy like that – and even less mobile content.

Assuming that all three of these online merchants are analysing their sites for consumer trends and overall areas for optimisation, there’s little to stop them from cornering the online market.

Now that I’m registered at all three, for better or worse, essential or extravagant, I’ll definitely be shopping online a lot more – as I’m sure South Africa, like the world, will be doing a lot more in 2009 and beyond.

Did you enjoy this post? Why not check out:

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