Mr Price online offering goes live

Mr Price online offering goes live

Mr Price on Monday went live with its online retail offering, which, according to CEO Stuart Bird, would enable the company to further strengthen relationships with its target customers.

According to Mr Price’s research, e-commerce sales in SA made up less than 0.5% of total retail sales, far behind the US, the UK, Europe and parts of Asia, where e-commerce as a percentage of total retail sales ranges between 7% and 10%.

“Our customers are incredibly tech-savvy and need a convenient and secure way to get their fashion,” Mr Bird said.

With nearly 18,000 items available online, customers will have access to Mr Price’s entire fashion range on the online store.

Furthermore, shoppers will be able to access the full range of merchandise, which was previously only possible by shopping at one of the larger stores.

“We’ve added even more to convenience by making the site – mrp.co.za web and mobi enabled, so customers will be able to transact with their computers or cell phones.

“More South Africans access the internet from their phones than from their desktops, which is why we developed a fully mobile e-commerce store that allows shopping from web-enabled mobile phone or tablet,” Bird said.

As broadband capabilities and costs have become more accessible to South Africans, consumers are switching to the benefits of e-commerce.

SA is catching up fast, with annual growth for e-commerce sales over the past few years averaging about 35% and set to continue at this rate for the next couple of years.

A variety of delivery types and payment mechanisms are being offered, including six ways to pay: credit card, debit card, COD with store collections, EFT, gift vouchers and their in-house MrPricemoney account. Delivery will be to the home, place of work, a customer’s nearest post office or the nearest store, for a R35 delivery fee.

Customers can also purchase e-vouchers and send them on electronically via email or SMS.

“The whole process is underpinned by industry-leading security. We will be the first South African retailer to be partnering with CyberSource, a payment gateway and fraud mitigation service provider that counts many of the world’s top online retailers as its customers, including Apple’s iTunes store,” Bird said.