Coupons.co.za is something of an innovation in the South African virtual community. The site is run by NetDirect, and acts as a portal to other online shopping sites. It offers coupons that users can redeem (either virtually or in the real world) to gain discounts on selected products.
Picking up on the strength of the coupon culture in the US, this site offers South African surfers the chance to cash in on discounted offers from a variety of participating companies, which covers everything from restaurants to groceries, to computer equipment and investments.
You will have to register before being able to make use of this site`s special offers. The process is quick and easy (I registered and received confirmation within the space of a minute), and has a surprisingly short and impersonal registration form, requesting only that information which is needed for NetDirect`s demographic statistics.
The initial information supplied with the registration form is relatively basic to the seasoned e-shopper, but new users will no doubt find it brimming with useful hints and info.
The terms of use are simple to understand, and the entire Web site is easily navigated. Lots of white space adds to the overall appeal of the design, and makes it very easy on the eye.
The main coupons page can be personalised to display coupons only for those products in which the user is interested, and all posted coupons are regularly rotated, which keeps the user aware of all the coupons on his or her main coupons page.
Unfortunately, retrieving a coupon does not seem to be as easy as it sounds. I tried to retrieve a grocery coupon from MegaShopper (http://www.megashopper.co.za) with no joy at all. The link between sites worked well enough, but I couldn`t find the relevant voucher on the MegaShopper site (although in all fairness, that would be a problem for MegaShopper to resolve).
Coupons also features a live auction page, which must be registered for separately from the main coupons page. Registering on Coupons will not give you automatic access to auctions and vice versa. This means that only genuine bidders are active in the auctions and that it remains a safe environment.
This is line with the company`s strong concerns regarding privacy and security. The site has posted a privacy statement, which users are invited to peruse, and its security is underwritten by US-based privacy authority TrustE.
Like all good sites should, Coupons.co.za has a search engine - and as on most similar sites, the search engine does not seem to be at all functional.
As a litmus test, I tried to find a specific jigsaw puzzle. I searched using the keywords "puzzles" and "toys", and both times received the message that nothing matching my search criteria had been found.
The Web site has a classifieds section, where users can conduct private sales and purchases. As a point of reference, I found someone selling motherboards. So, I popped back to the search engine, typed in "motherboards" and hey presto! there were no results matching my search criteria.
Overall, this is a good portal to other sites offering discounted products and services. The search engine needs a bit of work, and the range of coupons available is sure to expand as more companies begin participating.
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