Launched by E-Commerce Industry Leader, Jump Shopping

As E-Commerce in South Africa continues to grow, Jump Shopping has observed a few key aspects of the online shopping industry, specifically focusing on how shoppers interact online and what they want from a price comparison website. A key finding is with so many online shops offering great deals, it’s hard to keep track of all of them. FindPrice was launched in order to align the requirements of consumers with that of E-Commerce shops by listing products of South African online shops in one convenient location.

FindPrice is a new online shopping initiative launched by Jump Shopping, one of the industry leading companies in South African E-Commerce. Jump Shopping has always strived to uplift E-Commerce in South Africa and, through the knowledge gained and the lessons learned, FindPrice is one more way that Jump Shopping intends to do just that.

Over the years the needs of the consumer has changed; life got busy and expensive. Consumers don’t have hours to spend sifting through various web results or surfing various websites to compare prices. They need fast, accurate and convenient results in one location in order to compare prices, and this is what FindPrice offers. All products are categorised making searches easier for shoppers and ensuring they find the right product quickly and easily. New and extensive filters have been implemented within searches and offers are matched and grouped on a single page, enabling consumers to compare prices and make decisions knowing they have found the best price on offer.

FindPrice attended to a few other consumer requirements including customer security by offering ‘Verified Shops’, where online shops have to meet a strict set of criteria in order to be verified by FindPrice.  They also insist that each of their online shops disclose details such as a shop description, a contact method, delivery details and payment methods, which are publicly available in the shop directory, allowing consumers to determine if they feel secure in purchasing from them. Another requirement FindPrice addressed is cost and how consumers could ensure they are getting the best overall deal. FindPrice indicates which offers qualify for free shipping in the search results, and conveniently shoppers can filter offers to only show those that qualify for free shipping. FindPrice also offers an easy way to keep track of price drops through setting price alerts and keeping track of the price trend by means of the price history graphs. There is also an option to save products to a list in order to come back later to those specific products without having to search all over again.

Times are tough and life is too short to waste searching for a good deal. FindPrice makes it easier for shoppers to find the best price from the best shop quickly and conveniently. This is only the beginning, and as consumer needs evolve FindPrice will continue to expand. One of the upcoming new features to look forward to is FindPrice Mobile, offering added convenience for on-the-go shoppers.

Jump.co.za will remain active for the next few weeks until the transition to FindPrice is completed.  In future, jump.co.za will act as a content site focused on E-Commerce, bringing shoppers news as well as the much anticipated and ever competitive annual South African E-Commerce Awards.

Currently in its sixth year, the 2011 E-Commerce Awards have shown just how tough the competition is getting and E-Commerce websites need to constantly keep up with this growing industry.

Jump Shopping is proud to announce the winners in the 2011 E-Commerce Awards:

Bid or Buy winner of The Public’s Favourite E-Commerce Website Award
Yuppiechef winner of the Best E-Commerce Store Award
Bid or Buy winner of the Best E-Commerce Services Website Award
Groupon My City Deal winner of the Best Group Buying Website Award
SafariNow.com winner of the Best Design, Standards & Ease of use Award
Yuppiechef winner of the Best Shopping Process Award

This year Jump Shopping took another approach to the awards in that the contenders were encouraged to engage with their communities to gain votes. Bid or Buy came out on top as the Public’s Favourite E-Commerce Website by gaining the most public votes throughout the awards. Over 120 000 public votes were cast during the 2011 awards making these awards the biggest one yet. “E-Commerce in South Africa has seen a massive boost in the quality and standards of websites in 2011. The future of E-Commerce in South Africa looks brighter than ever” says Jaco Roux, Managing Director Jump Shopping.

Jump Shopping wanted to incentivise the public voting so together with ShopMaster an Apple iPad 2 was up for grabs to one lucky voter

Jump Shopping outsourced the Design (Look and Feel) Evaluations to independent design company Cream of Creations. “We wanted a professional opinion from a company that specializes in this area. Jump Shopping had no involvement with regards to these ratings” mentioned Roux.

The group buying concept is fairly new in South Africa and growing at an exceptional rate. Many new Group Buying sites have emerged over the last year, so with this in mind Jump Shopping felt it was important to recognise the contributions to E-Commerce in South Africa by adding the Award for Best Group Buying Website. Groupon My City Deal took the prize.

“We were impressed that more online shops have rolled out mobile sites or mobile apps in the last year, showing us that the competing websites understand where E-Commerce in South Africa is heading and that they are right on track with keeping up with this growing market.  I do think that mobile interfaces could be improved, and this is an area that shops need to focus on in 2012.” commented Roux.

Community building via social networking seems to have taken off, with websites expanding their customer base through engaging with their communities and involving them in product reviews, forums and competitions. Jump Shopping is happy to see that the E-Commerce websites in South Africa are taking notice of this marketing opportunity and using it to their advantage.

Another area that seems to be a focus point for E-Commerce websites is delivery. Jump Shopping was impressed with the fast reliable delivery that the competing websites offer. A number of websites seem to understand the importance of the “delivery experience” and added their personalized touches to the parcels. Yuppiechef, Simplicity Online, Prophcey Shop and Greenlove being amongst those that added in a “little extra” to ensure a satisfied customer.

Jump Shopping is one of South Africa’s leading price comparison website and started the E-Commerce Awards in 2006 as a bid to uplift E-Commerce in South Africa.  The awards have proven to be immensely successful as the public and the E-Commerce companies have embraced them to be the most prestigious recognition for E-Commerce websites in South Africa.

For a full list of Winners and Runners Up in the various categories, please visit the 2011 E-Commerce Award Winners

Since the announcement of the Top 40 websites in the 2011 South African E-Commerce Awards last month, Jump Shopping has been evaluating these sites to determine the Top 20 for the third and final round of the awards. The evaluations covered Design, Standards & Ease of use, Mobile, Social Networking and Public voting. Jump Shopping outsourced the Design (Look and Feel) Evaluations to an independent design company.

The Top 20 are:

• Bid or Buy
• Calora
• Cars.co.za
• Greenlove
• Groupon My City Deal
• Kalahari.com
• kulula.com
• Leisure Books
• Look and Listen
• Loot.co.za
• NuMetro
• Private Property
• Prophecy.co.za
• SafariNow.com
• Simplicity Online
• Takealot
• Travel Ground
• UbuntuDeal
• Wicount
• Yuppiechef

Jump Shopping will be ordering from the Top 20 websites under pseudo names to evaluate the ordering process and customer service. The evaluations conducted in Round 2 and 3 will determine the winners in the 2011 South African E-Commerce Awards.

The categories are:

•    The Public’s Favourite E-Commerce Website
•    Best E-Commerce Store
•    Best E-Commerce Services Website
•    Best Group Buying Website
•    Best Design, Standards & Ease of use
•    Best Shopping Process

The Awards will close on 31 October 2011 and the winners will be announced on 7 November 2011. The winners will be announced with the two runners up in each category.

Entry into the iPad 2 competition is closed. The lucky winner of the iPad 2 16GB WiFi + 3G, sponsored by ShopMaster, will be announced on 10 November 2011.

Click here for more information about the 2011 South African E-Commerce Awards.

For the last month South African e-commerce websites have been battling it out to secure their place in the Top 40 of the 2011 South African Ecommerce Awards. Yesterday, Jump Shopping announced the Top 40 websites and the contenders for Round 2.

The Top 40 are:

• 4Home.co.za
• Action Cameras
• Autostyle Motorsport
• Bid or Buy
• Calora
• Cars.co.za
• CityMob
• Diligo.co.za
• Faithful to Nature
• Greenlove
• Groupon My City Deal
• Habits
• Have2Have
• HomeChoice
• hpshop.co.za
• Kalahari.com
• kulula.com
• Leisure Books
• Look and Listen
• Loot.co.za
• NGR Computers
• Nivo
• NuMetro
• OneDayOnly
• Private Property
• Prophecy.co.za
• Quaffee
• RubberStampSA
• SACamera
• SafariNow.com
• Simplicity Online
• Sybaritic
• Takealot
• The Daisy Chain
• Travel Ground
• travelstart.co.za
• UbuntuDeal
• Wicount
• Yuppiechef
• Zaps Online

At the end of September the website with the most public votes from Round 1 and 2 will win the “The Public’s Favourite E-Commerce Website” award (this will be announced on the 7^th November with the rest of the awards).

Jump Shopping together with ShopMaster will be giving one lucky voter an Apple iPad 2 16GB WiFi + 3G. Each person that registers their vote will be entered into the competition. In order to double your chances of winning, paste the phrase and unique code that appears once you have voted, to Jump Shopping’s Facebook Fan Page.

Click here for more information about the 2011 South African E-Commerce Awards.

The Public Nomination round will determine the top 40 websites, those that received the most public votes. In Round 2 an initial evaluation conducted by Jump Shopping of the top 40 websites, together with the public’s votes from Round 1 and Round 2, will provide the top 20 contenders for Round 3. Nomination and Voting will be open from 1 August 2011 and will close on 30 September 2011. In the 3^rd and final E-Commerce Process Evaluation round,  Jump Shopping will be making extensive use of the top 20 websites to evaluate their respective ordering processes, customer service, as well as the websites design standards and ease of use. The Winners will be announced on 7 November 2011.

“With the growth shown in the South African e-commerce industry during the last year, we are excited to see which way the public vote will go this year. With social media being embraced and utilized to a greater extent, marketing and building a loyal customer base has become even easier than before. We see the South African E-commerce Awards as a measure of success and public perception surrounding e-commerce brands. We definitely think this year’s awards are going to be the biggest one yet and to help incentivise the public’s interest, Jump Shopping together with ShopMaster will be giving away an Apple iPad 2 to one lucky voter.” said Jaco Roux, Managing Director of Jump Shopping.

Jump Shopping identified the opportunity for such an awards event in 2006, and took the opportunity to start this as part of their goal to uplift E-Commerce in South Africa. The awards are now in its sixth year. These awards have been designed to recognise and reward those companies and organisations that have demonstrated excellence through the use of the Internet, with specific emphasis on E-Commerce. The Awards are only open to South African E-Commerce websites.

As an online comparative shopping search engine Jump Shopping connects online shoppers to online shops by listing millions of products from hundreds of South African online stores in one place, making it easier for consumers to shop online by being able to make informed decisions through comparing prices and products.

For more information regarding the 2011 South African E-Commerce Awards

This year it only takes one nomination to get your website listed. Voting will start as soon as your website is listed. The publics vote will not only decide “South Africa’s Favourite E-Commerce Website” but also which websites make it through Round 2 and 3 for evaluation.

To help incentivise the voting, Jump Shopping together with ShopMaster will be giving one lucky voter an Apple iPad 2 16GB WiFi + 3G. There will be banners available for website owners to put on websites to drive the voting and we highly recommend using them as they will take voters directly to your voting page. These banners will be available from 1 August 2011.

Judging Criteria for the 2011 South African E-Commerce Awards:

Jump Shopping has decided to change the voting procedure this year. Jump Shopping and the public will be judging the websites in a 3 Round Voting and Evaluation process. Jump Shopping will be ordering from the various websites under pseudo names to evaluate the websites and their respective ordering processes and customer service.

Websites will be judged against the following criteria:

Round 1: Public nomination

E-Commerce websites are added to the list of nominees by the public. A person can nominate and vote once per email address. Jump Shopping reserves the right to decline entry into the awards.

The top 40 websites that received the most public votes will go through to Round 2.

Round 2: Initial Evaluation

An initial evaluation conducted by Jump Shopping of the top 40 websites, together with the public’s votes from Round 1 and Round 2, will provide the top 20 contenders for Round 3.

Round 3: E-Commerce Process Evaluation

Jump Shopping will be ordering from the top 20 websites under pseudo names to evaluate the websites and their respective ordering processes, customer service, as well as the websites design standards and ease of use.

The Winners will be announced on 7 November 2011:

The Public’s Favourite E-Commerce Website
Best E-Commerce Store
Best E-Commerce Services Website
Best Design, Standards & Ease of use
Best Shopping Process

We are looking forward to the E-Commerce Awards this year. Good luck to you all!

About ShopMaster:

ShopMaster is the easy and affordable way to sell online in South Africa. That’s why over 900 businesses have chosen ShopMaster to power their online stores.

Benefit from an easy to use, tried and tested ecommerce solution, offering professional designs, hosting, security, and credit card processing. ShopMaster provides all the support you need to operate an online store.

Let ShopMaster take care of the technology while you focus on running your business. Get started from R300 per month. Start selling within hours of signing up. Local is Lekker.

mDirect allows customers with cell phones and a PIN based debit card to make secure payments over the internet or phone. Giving consumers more opportunity to shop online without a credit card and cutting down fraudulent credit card payments for online shops. There are approximately 28 million debit cards in South Africa and only 8 million credit cards. mDirect will make a huge difference to the South African online shopping market and consumers feel more in control of their money and spend by spending money that they “actually” have as opposed to on credit (for those that actually qualify for a credit card).

mDirect is easy to implement and secure and you don’t need a complicated merchant account. Sample code is available for download to implement into your website, catering for an expanded customer base and potentially lower cost of transactions. At present only Standard Bank debit cards are supported on both the MTN and Vodacom network. However we don’t doubt that the rest will follow shortly.

Dave Paratt (Business Development Executive MTN Mobile Money) explained the security as using a point-of-sale device: when your card is swiped data is extracted from the magnetic strip and the pin pad that is used is a secure device. mDirect has taken the same principal and applied it to cell phones. The security on a phone is provided through the sim card. A point-of-sale devices pin pad has hardware encryption which is exactly what a sim card has.

How does it work:

“When making a payment using mDirect, the customer will be asked to enter their name and mobile phone number. If they have not linked a debit card to their phone number they will be prompted to register. Only one card can be linked to a mobile phone number. If the card has been registered the customer will receive a notification on their handset to enter their PIN number. The mDirect system uses the unique handset and SIM card details in the encryption of the PIN number, so the identity of the customer can be positively authenticated. Once the bank has received the encrypted PIN and authorized the transaction, the response is sent to PayGate as it would be for a credit card transaction. This transaction status is sent to the merchant in the normal way and the results of the payment are displayed to the customer.”

With plans for a massive marketing campaign and rebranding in July 2011 to “Payd” we can’t wait for this to take off in South Africa.

The Mede8er MED500X is a multimedia player developed by Sanji for the media fanatic. With concrete media playback from a hard drive, USB device, SD Card, Internet or Local Network source, you get a media player that supports most media formats for a very reasonable price.

The Mede8er MED500X supports the latest MKV/H264 codec which achieves an amazing compression ratio while maintaining a practical file size. The Mede8er MED500X supports most SD and HD camcorder formats meaning you can store all you videos on the Mede8er MED500X and watch them in crystal clear quality on your TV. Connect the Mede8er MED500X to your TV and start enjoying your Movies, Pictures, Videos and Music on your big screen. The Mede8er MED500X incorporates a HD JPEG engine that delivers still digital images with outstanding clarity. You can even insert your camera’s SD card directly into the Mede8er MED500Xto view your photos directly from the memory card.

The Mede8er MED500X remote control is easy to use; The navigation buttons can be used to control key functions like Fast Forward, Rewind, Play, Pause and Volume. An in folder preview facility allows users to view cover art and content info.

The Mede8er MED500X allows you to stream digital media content from your network PC or NAS storage device via Ethernet or optional fast USB 802.11n WIFI dongle.

Compare Mede8er prices on Jump Shopping.

This monochrome (meaning it only prints black ink) laser printer is perfect for setting up a home office or small business. The HP Laser Jet Pro P1606DN is small and compact so it doesn’t take up too much space. Simple to operate, with printing speeds up to 25 pages per minute and comes with Fast Res 1200 technology ensuring crisp text and sharp lines. The HP Laser Jet Pro P1606DN prints on a variety of different mediums like transparencies, vellum paper and photo paper. With its built-in Ethernet networking and automatic two sided printing you are guaranteed an affordable quality laser printer.

Brother HL 2270DW:

This monochrome laser is perfect for text documents. With its automatic two sided printing and print resolution up to 2400 x 600 dpi you are assured of crisp prints. The brother HL 2270DW prints 27 pages per minute, and prints on a variety of different mediums like Bond paper, envelopes and labels. The brother HL 2270DW provides built-in wireless 802.11 b/g and Ethernet interfaces for network sharing.

Samsung ML-2525W:

The Samsung ML-2525W also falls in the workgroup monochrome laser printer category. With a printing speed of 24 pages per minute, automatic two sided printing and a print resolution up to 1200 x 600 dpi, you again are guaranteed of crisp text and sharp lines. The Samsung ML-2525W offers Ethernet and wireless connectivity. The Samsung ML-2525W comes with Anyweb Print software that lets you drag and drop content from different web pages into a blank page without having to resize or edit in any way. It also gives you ESP (Easy Screen Print) that lets you print from your computer with a single button.

Compare Monochrome Laser Printer prices on Jump Shopping.

The Nikon Coolpix S5100 has fast start up time, rapid AF Focusing and quick shot-to-shot turnaround time.

The Nikon Coolpix S5100 has 720p HD video recording at the touch of a button for those not to be missed movie magic moments when you’re out and about.

Along with auto scene selector, subject tracking with auto lock-on, smart portrait system as well as a new flash control system and motion and tripod detection this little pocket size camera is must have for capturing those special moments.

In terms of storage media it has internal memory of 32MB, SD/SDHC memory card but is not compatible with multimedia cards (MMC) or SDXC.

This is a brilliant and stylish point and shoot camera for capture those special moments.

Compare The Nikon Coolpix S5100 prices on Jump Shopping

Source: Nikon