Woolworths and Wooltru venture Inthebag.co.za will launch in Cape Town this Wednesday and a Johannesburg launch is promised soon after.
The site, into which Wooltru has pumped more than R30 million in start-up costs, will host a Woolworths product range of more than a thousand products and will also include grocery and toiletry brands.
The company, a joint venture with shares held by Woolworths, Wooltru and management, says it will soon expand into toys, gifts and CDs.
"It is not just about taking Woolworths online," says Inthebag CEO Jessica Knight. "This will be a multi-category shopping site and will include other retailers."
Woolworths products will be hosted in a co-branded category focusing on kitchen-related items, but the company is sourcing other ranges wholesale. Knight says relationships with other retailers will be handled on a case-by-case basis, with options including co-branding, specific location within categories and simple product listings.
Inthebag says it is inherently more cost-effective to aggregate products than it is for individual retailers to go online.
The company is to offer 24-hour delivery service in "selected areas" in Cape Town and Johannesburg at a R35 flat rate. A cheaper option, for those who are willing to accept delivery at any time during the day instead of at a specific time, will be available. Knight says the flat-rate delivery charge is more transparent and more favourable to customers than a basket percentage, and will be one of the drawing cards of the service.
"We will become the benchmark for e-tailing in SA and we expect that not long after we launch, our customers will wonder how they ever did without it," she says.
Inthebag expects to employ a full-time staff of around 35 people by year-end and will use the existing Woolworths logistics backbone. It expects to continually add new products to its range as operations expand.
Wooltru earlier announced that it intends to focus on providing technological services and will dispose of its retail holdings.
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