Naspers-owned Internet Service provider (ISP), M-Web, has come under increasing fire for blocking access to its portal of sites for non-subscribers. But, early last week, the company seems to have reconsidered some of its marketing actions as it "re-opened" at some sites including the e-commerce site of one of its clients, The Notebook Company.
Responding to this, the Notebook Company, the laptop and mobile accessories retailer, said it had been losing out on sales because M-Web, which facilitates its e-commerce site, had been preventing the prospective clients from entering the e-commerce site if they were not M-Web subscribers.
The Notebook Company joins a long list of companies and individuals who have been confused over M-Web`s recent decision to block access to its portal of sites for non-subscribers. This decision came shortly after ABSA bank introduced a free Internet service.
Christopher Riley, general manager of The Notebook Company, said the company is not happy with M-Web`s decision. He confirmed the company lost sales during the time that M-web blocked its site. "The number of prospective clients who use our e-commerce site as a facilitator to a final sale is on the increase. But the latest move by M-Web is likely to have an exceedingly negative impact on our once-burgeoning on-line sales. We feel they have a duty to offer us a service as they are hosting our e-commerce site. There decision to block non-subscribers flies in the face of this."
The company also runs competitions through the M-Web facilitated e-commerce site.
Riley said while his company`s e-commerce site has since been re-opened to non-subscribers, it "would appear that a plethora of other sites are still blocked to non-subscribers, such as the news site, www.istrategy.co.za and others".
"I think M-Web is in total conflict with itself - and with the market. Initially, if non-subscribers wanted to enter www.mweb.co.za - their main page - it simply said `site not allowed`. What kind of message is this giving to the market? That M-Web is being high-handed, that it is refusing new business, or that it is indeed in financial disarray? Their strategy was certainly not well-conceived. Users trying to enter the site should have been told that they would be barred because they were non-subscribers. Instead, M-Web appears to have cobbled together a hasty plan as a knee-jerk reaction to ABSA`s launch of its free Internet service. But even ignoring the rushed and paltry nature of their game plan, it is still in direct conflict with themselves - and with general business practises." The Notebook Company sells a wide range of brand-name laptops, including Acer, IBM, Compaq, Toshiba and Mecer.
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