E-commerce has become a buzzword in the communications industry and it’s an area Flow Communications has become a specialist in over the past few years.
E-commerce stands for electronic commerce; it consists of the buying and selling of products and services over the internet. About two years ago, we at Flow saw the need to start engaging in this area, and introduced the idea to some of our clients.
In one of Flow’s first e-commerce projects, we partnered with one of our longstanding clients, Maropeng, which is the official visitor centre of the Cradle of Humankind and a major tourist attraction in Gauteng.
Ever-innovative Head of Programming Richard Frank and his team of programmers developed an online shop for Maropeng, giving users the opportunity to book events and specials. Richard says he is particularly proud of the online shop’s look and feel, which is very closely tied into the design of www.maropeng.co.za (which Flow also designed and maintains), and the fact that it doesn’t take the customer to another site.
“When a user goes to the shop they feel like they are still in the same platform; they are not taken to a different site and this makes it a seamless experience for the customer,” he explains.
Says Richard, “It makes sense for a company that sells digital goods (or goods that could be digital, such as tickets) to integrate e-commerce into their website. It takes down admin time and it operates 24 hours a day.”
In an ambitious e-commerce project, Flow recently launched www.collectivecow.com with two partners who originally came to us as potential clients. CollectiveCow epitomises the concept of online collective buying, which gives people a chance to buy products online at discounted prices, by using the internet to gather groups of people who are then able to command substantial discounts.
CollectiveCow was recently showcased by Radio 702 in Johannesburg as part of its Entrepreneurs SA programme.
CollectiveCow’s method is simple: deals are put up on the website each day, and subscribers can choose to buy the deal or not. Each deal has a “tipping point” (a minimum number of purchases required to ensure the deal goes through), meaning purchases have to be made but people aren’t billed until after the deal reaches the tipping point and is closed to purchases.
This e-commerce project is driven largely by e-marketing – for example using social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to advertise the daily deals.
Previous deals have included manicure and pedicure deals, meal specials from Mike’s Kitchen, accommodation specials at Jaci’s Lodges in Madikwe Game Reserve, live concerts at the Barnyard Theatre, and opportunities to visit Maropeng in the Cradle of Humankind and the Origins Centre museum at the University of Witwatersrand.
Another e-commerce project has been the building and ongoing maintenance of www.backabuddy.co.za. BackaBuddy is an organisation that gives charities an opportunity to raise and donate funds through charity champions (individuals who raise funds on the charities’ behalf).
The fund-raising project for the individual can be anything, ranging from doing something like the Two Oceans Marathon or just shaving all their hair for cancer.
BackaBuddy has already raised over R7-million for over 400 charities through more than 1100 charity champions.
The lead programmer on this project, Reatile Tshikalange, says he is proud of the system Flow has developed. “It provides a trouble-free way for people to donate funds to a charity and an easy way for people to raise funds for worthy causes,” he explains.
Using the iVeri (Nedbank) payment gateway, Flow’s developers created a platform that facilitates management of both credit card and EFT transactions.
Ahead of the recent Daredevil Speedo run organised by Etana Insurance, Flow developers integrated a payment gateway to the Daredevil site and provided a payment solution for hundreds of runners and supporters. For the run, Daredevil supporters (who dressed for the run only in red Speedos) were able to register, pay and support their favourite people online.
Stephen Frank, who was the lead developer on this project, is adamant that e-commerce has a big future in the South African communications sector.
“E-commerce in South Africa is only going to bigger as emerging technologies, such as online debit card transactions, strengthen and mature. The population of online users is growing and so is the demand for online payment options.”
E- commerce solutions have not only been limited to Johannesburg clients. Flow also built and manages a high-end online ticketing system for the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town.
Speaking about the aquarium’s e-commerce solutions, Ingrid Sinclair, who works from our Cape Town office and is the lead person on the aquarium account, explains, “This product [online ticketing] was launched in August and has been widely used. Customers are slowly waking up to the potential of this product and we are seeing great growth of sales every month.
“It’s truly an exciting time as Flow enters avenues previously unexplored. Flow has also implemented the online sale and renewal of aquarium membership,” says Ingrid.
Keep checking our website, to find out more about other e-commerce solutions we are able to develop with our wonderful clients as time goes by!