The company joins local retailers entering the e-commerce fray, highlighting the growing trend towards capturing online trade in a bid to take market share. In tough economic times a competitive edge can be gained by tailoring businesses according to customers' demands.
With ever greater numbers of time-poor and tech-savvy shoppers, convenience is a key factor.
Mr Price Apparel launched its online platform last year. Woolworths also offers online shopping.
Edcon CEO Jürgen Schreiber this week said online strategy was important.
"It offers convenience to customers.... For us it's a step-by-step process. We're focusing on hard lines and low-queue products. We're first doing everything outside apparel and at some point in time we will go into the apparel space," he said.
Edcon, which also owns Jet, Edgars and Legit, launched its CNA online operation in May last year. Red Square's e-commerce portal went live last month.
Edcon e-commerce executive David Gibbons said cosmetics were a "great" category for e-commerce - they were easy to ship and lent themselves to online shopping.
"Customers often know exactly what they're looking for and a website can provide them with ... a huge range, good product information, customer reviews and insight about new products.
"They seldom shop exclusively either on- or off-line, so being multichannel is an important part of the value proposition, and having physical stores where product can be exchanged is seen as a big benefit by consumers," Gibbons said.
By global standards, the online shopping segment in SA is small and largely focused on the nonfood market, but a growing number of consumers are turning to the internet to browse and shop.
Professional services group PwC says there are several barriers to the development of e-commerce in SA. The first is the low internet penetration and the high cost of broadband. Another is a postal system widely seen as inefficient. Most retailers rely on private couriers for deliveries, which adds to costs.
Also this week, Edcon said it would be expanding its African presence. The group, like other consumer-facing groups, is moving into Africa in hopes of tapping into the continent's rising middle class.
"We'll open a lot of new stores in Zambia and Mozambique. We have committed a little more than 60 stores over the next three years. We have signed our first store development in Ghana," Schreiber said.
Edcon has more than 70 stores outside of SA.
Source: Business Day
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