He hasn`t yet found a domestic service online, but Dotcoza, the guinea pig in Andersen Consulting`s e-commerce research project, has managed to buy a vacuum cleaner.
Dotcoza also spent his holidays making fictitious money at the online brokering site, Utrade.co.za - R72 000 worth of it, at last count.
"It`s scary how it swings - and how addictive it is," he cautions. Although he started off with very little understanding of it, Dotcoza still managed to work his way through the basic economics course offered on the site, and then plunge into the world of [hypothetical] online trading.
Dotcoza also put the automotive industry to the test last week and attempted to acquire a car for test-driving. The results, he says, are disappointing.
He tried the offerings of McCarthy Online and Automark.co.za, and found that while he was able to organise a test drive through the former, by the time he tried to confirm the details, the car had already been sold.
Even so, he says, it is an example of businesses whose Web sites, though useful, are halfway to being effective. "McCarthy has a more complete offering and they got back to me sooner. I haven`t yet heard from Automark.co.za."
The excess of long weekends and public holidays let Dotcoza in on another problem plaguing e-commerce fulfilment: the issue of delivery. "No-one works on a Sunday, or a public holiday - I`d imagine the e-commerce sites are not yet busy enough to justify it. Megashopper delivered on Easter Saturday - but then, they do know who I am."
Although the research project is still relatively on track, there has been some shuffling of topics, which Dotcoza says is due mainly to the accessibility of staff resources.
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