Local media company, Hypertext has unveiled a shopping deals Web site.
The company says the portal will showcase the best special offers and discounts available on the Internet each day. It notes that the release was timed to coincide with Black Friday, unofficially the biggest discounted shopping day of the year in the US, and a growing phenomenon now available to South Africans via online shopping.
The deals site is being released off the back of htxt.africa, Hypertext's tech news site.
"It's no secret that the Internet has changed the way people all over the world research, compare and purchase everything, from essential pieces of technology, to everyday items needed to run their households," says Brett Haggard, Hypertext founder.
Haggard says many large retailers experienced year-on-year growth of between 30% and 90% during the festive season in 2012, and bigger numbers are expected for 2013, as more people are online, with Google, for example, predicting at least 25% growth in online sales for the whole year.
According to the MasterCard Online Shopping Survey, 54% of South Africans who have access to the Internet use it for shopping, and 91% of those who do so were satisfied with their experience. Three quarters of those shoppers said they found the ease and convenience of online shopping appealing.
"Looking at the great response we've had to our weekly 'Thrifty Thursday' posts published to htxt.africa, we believe the South African online community will welcome a site where they can find great specials and discounts on a huge variety of products and services, in one place," he says.
"It is important to note that deals.htxt is a connection to great deals, referring shoppers to the retailers offering them. It is up to those shopping outlets to fulfil orders according to the terms and conditions published on their sites," says Haggard.
He notes that, for the near term, many of the deals featured on the site will be from international players, as Hypertext is on the lookout for local suppliers that want to offer special deals too. "We will ensure, however, that all of these deals on the site have been verified as available to South African shoppers at the time of listing them on the site."
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