Free business idea: Start an e-brand in 2008
by Jon Cherry on 28/11/07 at 4:41 pm
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E-commerce in South Africa is frankly a barren wasteland.
The category is dominated by the usual old schoolyard bullies, which include the likes of click click Kalahari and Netflorist and then mostly a tidal wave of diamond diggers skeleton’s who’s prospecting pans have long since rusted as the late 90’s e-commerce hype faded into reality.
But, the rebirth of the South African e-brand is upon us and in 2008 the opportunities for savvy entrepreneurs are vast. However, it cannot be stressed enough that more than any other industry, brand credibilty in an online space is paramount to success.
The latest Trendwatching briefing concurs with our optimism towards e-branding in ‘08. They reckon that ’spending blood, sweat and tears on improving your ecommerce presence; the pay-off will be immediate, and far more substantial than investing in Web 2.0 me-toos!’
Mad props have to go to Ideate’s own Yuppiechef guys who were yesterday awarded the title of the ‘Best Home and Garden online store‘ in this year’s South Africa e-commerce awards. They understand that successfully building a trusted online brand is a long and patient process that requires pin-point market and product segmentaion and a finely crafted brand experience.
See the main problem with online stores up until now, is that they still think of themselves as an online store instead of brand builders where offline brand performance is key.
The gap is there – who’s gonna take it?
More: The tipping point in mobile is near – Bizcommunity
Jon Cherry is the founder of Cherryflava Media, a Trends & Innovation company. Jon is also the brains behind Cherryflava.com one of the most influential websites in Africa. Jon likes to pick out the business needles in South Africa's haystack. View more articles by Jon Cherry.
