Tyger Valley Holiday Apartments
Tygervalley Holiday Apartments, famous for its views
that stretch from the Boland Mountains to Gordon’s Bay and awesome views
of Table Mountain, Lion’s Head and Table Bay in between.
There are plenty for visitors to do as Tyger Valley is close to the Durbanville and Paarl Wine Routes, Bloubergstrand beaches, golf courses and also weekend craft markets.
For
all those shopping lovers, Tygervalley has a Shopping centre close by,
all other major shopping centres are Canal Walk and the V&A
Waterfront and all have a wide range of places to shop, eat and drink!
Great for some family time is a nearby Zoo called Tygerberg Zoo
located North along the N1 highway from our Tygervalley towards Paarl.
The Zoo is home to 280 animal species and also a children’s farmyard for
the kids to enjoy.
Source: Holiday Apartment Tygervalley
Online Shopping Safety - the Internet Privacy Problem
When you are shopping, banking or accessing other sensitive or confidential information online, how can you be sure that no one can monitor or intercept this personal information? Moreover, how can you be sure that someone can't get this information from your computer later? The answer of the first question is simpler that the second one. Mil Shield is a powerful privacy protection tool that can automatically clean all online and offline traces from your computer, which is very important to your Internet privacy, as you will see below:
Traces left on your computer
The
discussion above covers the protection of your Internet privacy from
Internet cheats or impostors. However the encryption can not help if
someone gets to control your PC or has access to your computer through
one of the numerous security holes in the operating system and
application software. The thing is that Internet Explorer leaves many
traces of your Web surfing. These include Internet history, cookies,
Temporary Internet files (a.k.a. Internet cache) and AutoComplete forms
and passwords. If an intruder gets access to these traces, he can have a
full record of all Web surfing and even some of your computer
activities that are not related to Internet.
You can delete some of these traces through Internet Explorer options but not all of them are really deleted (see the article Delete Index.dat files for the most obscure and hard to erase traces). Furthermore, it is real pain to have to clean even these traces because there is no centralized place to control this and there is no way to automate the process. Finally, some of the traces are actually good for your browsing experience – Internet cache speeds up the browsing, cookies protect you from entering your user information over and over again and history makes it easy to type the addresses of your favorite Web sites.
Secure pages and secure connections
Everything
that you enter in the online forms when you are shopping, travels
through many (tens or even hundreds) switching devices and computers. In
order to be sure that no one can intercept this information, a special
way of communication is used, called Secure Socket Layer (SSL). SSL
ciphers (encrypts) the information on your computer and deciphers
(decrypts) the information on the Web server that you are accessing. But
how can you be sure that SSL is used when you are shopping online?
First, you have to look at the address bar of your browser and see what the address of the page where you enter your personal and credit card information looks like. If the address begins with https: (s for secure) instead of http: then this page is using SSL. Note that only the page(s) where you actually enter your personal and credit card information need to be protected with SSL. All other pages on the Web site in most cases don't use SSL because they don't need to.
Digital certificates, cipher strength and Internet privacy
With
SSL (the secure protocol described above) you can be sure that no one
can intercept and decode the private information sent to the online
store or whatever web page you are accessing via secure connection.
However, there is another danger – how can you be sure that the online
shop itself is not a cheat or impostor?
To address this concern, when you visit the online store order page and you submit your personal data, the online store server automatically sends its digital certificate. This is essentially an electronic ID card that proves the online store identity to your browser, and verifies that it was issued by a certificate authority that your browser trusts. This certificate is issued to the online store by a trusted third party called a certificate authority. In addition to proving the online store identity, the certificate provides a cryptographic "key" (cipher) that is used to encode and decode your communication with the online store. Once your browser approves the certificate, the secure server encrypts any information before it travels across the Internet.
Conclusion
As
we saw the online shopping experience can be safe and joyful only if we
take some precautions. Here is a summary of the steps that you need to
follow in order to protect your Internet privacy:
- Check if the
order page(s) are SSL protected. The address of the page must begin with
https: and (if you are using Internet Explorer) the little padlock icon
on the bottom of the browser window must be locked.
- If the security alerts of Internet Explorer don't bother you, leave them turned on (or turn them on if they are turned off).
-
Use a browser that supports 128-bit cipher strength and (if you are
really paranoid) check the digital certificates of the secure pages.
-
Use a privacy protection program like Mil Shield in order to avoid the
possibility of someone that can steal your personal information after
the online transaction.
Well, happy shopping!
A Healthy Cape Town Vacation
Some people will not consider African vacations because they are worried about exotic tropical diseases, bad water, various creatures that have poisonous bites or stings, and substandard medical facilities run by under qualified staff. Such fears are certainly justified for some parts of Africa. However, this is not the case with Cape Town. Here the drinking water is safe, and the standards of hygiene in the tourist areas are generally quite high. Moreover, Cape Town is not in a malaria zone.If You Get Sick or Are Injured
First and foremost, always be sure you are insured before you even leave home. If you should become ill or get hurt while you are visiting Cape Town, you will find that public hospitals are generally well equipped, but are often overwhelmed. You will quite likely face long waits and indifferent service. You will most likely get better treatment in a private hospital or clinic. These are up to the highest North American and British standards and the treatment is more personal than in a public hospital. The cost is less than in an American hospital, and should not be an issue anyhow, if you are insured. Look in the phone directory under Medical. If you have a dental problem, dentists in Cape Town are up to British and North American standards, and are not overly expensive. Look in the directory under Dentists.
Do I Need Inoculations?
There are no specific inoculations required if you arrive in Cape Town from the West. A yellow fever vaccination card is mandatory if you are coming from a country or where the disease is endemic, such as Kenya or the tropical regions of South America. The Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London advises that persons travelling to South Africa have their tetanus and polio vaccinations up to date. It also recommends shots for hepatitis A and typhoid. These diseases can be caught from contaminated food and water. You are highly unlikely to encounter either one in Cape Town, but some people feel better if they have taken precautions. If you are going to get shots, start them six weeks before your trip.
Not Too Much Sun
The biggest health hazard you’re likely to encounter in Cape Town is too much sun. This is especially true if you are fair skinned. The short term effects of overexposure to the sun include burns, headaches, and nausea. Long term effects can include skin cancer. Do not risk your health for the sake of a sun tan. Use high protection sunscreen, wear a wide brimmed hat, and use good sunglasses. Make sure that children are properly protected from the sun, even on cloudy days. You can purchase UV-protective clothing in Cape Town.
Bites and Stings
Snake bites in Cape Town are rare. Most of the poisonous snakes avoid humans. The two that don’t, the puff and berg adders, are sluggish and don’t move at the approach of a human; just back away if you see one on the ground in front of you. If you should get bitten, do not panic and do not try anything with razor blades or tourniquets. Note what the snake looks like, and get to a hospital as quickly as possible. Spider bites and scorpion stings are rare. When they do occur, they are painful but very seldom fatal. You won’t usually see any spiders or scorpions unless you turn over logs and stones.
Article Source
Discount Car Rentals Cape Town
Biggest Online Shopping Days from 2000-2008
There are a number of obvious advantages to shopping online. Studies in 2008 predicted that more than ever, people would shop online as opposed to hopping in their gas guzzlers to hunt for deals at brick and mortar retailers. According to the National Retail Federation, traditional retail sales were predicted to increase by only 3.5%, marking the slowest growth rate in six years. Although the growth rate for online sales wasn’t as high as previous years, 2008 still saw a record breaking day.
Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the Unnamed Day of Biggest Online Sales
A moniker has yet to be given to the biggest day of online sales, as it’s a bit harder to define than those days that have received some increasingly popular nicknames. Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, is labeled as the start of the traditional shopping season and is one of the busiest retail shopping days of the year. Cyber Monday refers to the Monday immediately following Thanksgiving and is the online equivalent of Black Friday, marking the start of the online holiday shopping season. Then there is “the biggest day of online sales”. This day became a record breaker this year yet again with $887 million spent online in 2008, topping the previous year’s total of $881 million.
(For past and recent sales data for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, see: Holiday Sales: When Will Your Site See its Peak Day? (*2008 Updates))
The Past Presents the Future – Predicting Online’s Biggest Day
Estimating a single day of highest online sales proves to be a bit trickier then estimating the total amount of sales. For example, an estimate of $44 billion in total online sales (which was made by Forrester Research for holiday sales in November and December of 2008) can be reached by meeting a dollar amount within a fluctuation of $999.9 million, give or take. In looking at the data we’ve collected in the chart above, you can see that making a prediction for 2006 would have been easy: “It will fall on the second Monday before Christmas.” The actual date, however, took the first step at deviating away from the norm by falling on a Wednesday instead. With fluctuations in traditional patterns, forecasters are becoming less likely to voice their opinions as to when this big day may occur.
Using only seven years of data (as there are no searchable records for largest days prior to 2000), there is a chance that future big days will not follow past trends. From 2000-2007, the biggest day of online shopping fell on a Monday, with the second Monday before Christmas marking the largest shopping day six years running. As seen in the chart above, the number of days between the biggest online shopping day and Christmas Day has increased on average, with only six days starting in 2000 and over twice as many in 2007. This also reiterates the fact that on average, consumers are doing their online shopping earlier year after year. The one instance where the number actually fell instead of rising was a rare case when, for the first time in seven years, the largest day of online sales came on a Wednesday in 2006.
Using the data available from 2000-2007, the biggest day of online sales for 2008 had an 86% chance of both falling on a Monday, and having an increase in the number of days between itself and Christmas. Although I predicted the big day of online sales would be on December 8th (see: Biggest Online Sales Day Near), the actual day fell one day later on Tuesday, December 9th. So when will 2009 see it’s big day? Although there’s no way to make an exact prediction, it’s safe to say that online store owners should be prepared for an increase in sales sooner than ever!
Total Sales for The Biggest Online Shopping Days of Years Past
2006 – Wednesday, December 13th – $666.9 million
2007 – Monday, December 10th – $881 million
2008 – Tuesday, December 9th – $887 million
Buy Books Online South Africa
Shopping online
Need help to put the brakes on your eBay habit? Here are some recession-savvy spending advice when shopping on the Web.
Like
smoking, gambling and chocolate, online shopping can become addictive.
Before your computer chews up your credit card, follow these basic
shopping tips to avoid being scammed, phished and out-of-pocket.
Tip 1: Find a reputable online retailer
It's always good to be familiar with the name or reputation of any
company you're dealing with. Buying from local websites is always
better because they are just a phone call away and you don’t have to
pay expensive shipping costs and import fees. However, if you are
looking for something that can only be found in the US, go for big name
sites with worldwide credibility. Amazon.com, for example, ships to SA,
although there are bans on certain items. But you’ll have to wait up to
a month or two to receive your purchases, and customs duties can add a
lot to the cost.
If you’re looking for CDs, DVDs, electronics, books, wine, flowers, and
other gifts, Kalahari.net is a good local online shopping provider.
Kalahari also has a comprehensive academic book selection and a
gift-wrapping service.
Retailers like Pick n Pay and Woolworths also offer online shopping.
While shopping online may seem way cooler than waiting in line and
looking for parking, neither Woolworths nor Pick n Pay guarantee same
day deliveries and they don’t deliver to all suburbs.
Pick n Pay charges R55 to have groceries delivered to your door, they
don’t deliver on Sundays, or after 19h00 during the week and 17h00 on
Saturdays. Woolworths delivers on Sundays until 12h00 and costs are
between R40-R65, depending on your chosen delivery time slot. Both
merchants have extensive online catalogues, but not all products are
available for online shopping.
Tip 2: Protect your privacy
Before submitting your private details, check the website’s privacy
policy and read the terms and conditions. Make sure your details will
not be sold or shared with other retailers. When submitting your
personal details, it’s always good to carefully inspect the address
bar, if you see “HTTPS” rather than just the normal “HTTP”; you know
your details are secure. HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol
Secure and is used for payment transactions on the World Wide Web.
If you’re still unsure, contact the retailer directly and chat through
your concerns. It’s best to be safe, you don’t want your credit card
details landing in the wrong hands.
Tip 3: Check the Details
Check for expected delivery dates, shipping and handling fees,
warranties, return policies, and other important information. Look for
an email address to write to (or a phone number to call) if you have a
question, a problem, or if you need help. There’s nothing worse than
paying for a broken camera, or the wrong DVD. Make sure you can return
goods at full refund. Also be aware that when ordering something from
the US for example, you will pay shipping and handling costs of between
$9 and $39, as well as customs duties when you collect your purchase.
Tip 4: Payments
Kalahari.net, Woolworths and Pick n Pay all allow for debit as well as
credit card payments. Ensure the website you are using is secure before
you enter your credit or debit card details. Look for a SSL or TLS
certificate - a commonly-used protocol for managing the security of
message transmissions on the Internet, which means that no-one can
eavesdrop or spy on your details. Commonly used certificates are
Thawte, VeriSign and DigiCert. These certificates will often appear
near the bottom of the site, and look like buttons or badges.
Tip 5: Don’t get carried away!
It’s easy to get finger frenzy online and overspend, especially when
prices for overseas items look so affordable. But remember that
shipping cost and customs duties add to the overall cost; weigh up your
options and make sure you know what you’ll really be paying.
Report advises caution when shopping online
Some popular online retailers don't do enough either to inform
customers how their personal information could be used or to give them
control over it, according to a public interest research group.
CyberStreetSmart.org, a project of the New York Public Interest
Research Group, has issued "screen door" and "steel door" awards to
retail websites after evaluating their protections for customers'
personal information.
The group reviewed the privacy policies of 484 online retailers in
October and November. Disneyshopping.com and homedepot.com received
screen door awards, meaning they're not doing such a good job. Sites
that won steel door awards include netflix.com, ralphlauren.com and
rocawear.com.
Disneyshopping.com was rapped because its privacy policy is "very
technical and lengthy" and may be hard for people to understand, said
Tracy Shelton, a consumer attorney with NYPIRG. Emails to Disney
seeking comment were not immediately answered.
Homedepot.com was singled out because its policy says personal
information may be transferred if the company is sold. The company said
in a statement that the disclosure of potential transfers "is standard
language throughout the industry.
"We take data security very seriously and have many proactive measures
to ensure the protection of customer information," the company said.
Shelton said shoppers should take the time to find out about the privacy policies of the websites where they buy things.
"Their personally identifiable information is a big important asset
that people have, and it should be protected," she said.
Boom in cyberspace shopping - Pretoria News
Cyberspace shopping in South Africa is booming with online retail sites surpassing all expectations for 2006.
And industry players say they expect the steep upward growth to continue next year.
A
recent survey found that online sales from SA sites had grown by a
whopping 30 percent from last year, which is 10 percent more than
forecast.
South Africans are becoming more comfortable with buying everything from books, CDs and DVDs to groceries online.
And while the festive season has contributed to the sharp spike,
industry players say the growth has been consistent throughout the year.
Online
research specialist Arthur Goldstuck, of World Wide Worx, said 2006 saw
the start of a major online shopping boom - and he believes that this
is the beginning of rapid growth in the industry.
His research
- The Goldstuck Report: Online Retail in South Africa, 2006 - had
earlier looked at figures supplied by online retailers in South Africa
and had forecast online sales of R617 million for the year, which would
have been a 20 percent increase on last year.
"What has emerged
is that this year's growth has been 30 percent and was closer to
R668-million, which is the first time in several years that there has
been such a large growth rate," he said.
In his report Goldstuck examines the possible reasons for the dramatic upturn in the industry's growth.
It
was in line, he said, with a phenomenon known as "the experience curve"
whereby people felt more confident buying online as they became more
comfortable using the Internet.
"When online retail started there was a small base of users and... this base has now increased," said Goldstuck.
"The
research had found that users needed to be online for five years before
they felt comfortable enough to start banking online, and thereafter it
takes another year or two before they shop online.
"The base
number has always been small but that has grown and we expect 2008 to
be the year of critical mass and a major uptake to start in online
retail."
While the festive season saw a slight peak in online
spending, the increased growth was consistent through the year, said
Goldstuck.
November and December - when most of the festive
season spending is done - accounted for only about 25 percent of online
spending in the year, which is not significantly high, Goldstuck said.
While
people have been buying books, CDs and DVDs online for some time, the
research found an increase in the purchase of groceries and electronic
goods.
"Books and DVDs were the most popular but electronics such as PCs and iPods were the new big players."
Online sales were still largely centred on the country's major cities, with Johannesburg accounting for 50 percent of volume.
Another
trend that has emerged is that as online sites' sales grow, existing
physical - "bricks and mortar" retail stores have begun to move online
as well, he said.
Novelty online store Have2Have.co.za, which
has been operating for the past two and a half years, has enjoyed
"phenomenal growth since mid November", according to co-owner Simon
Swanich.
"The sales have been seven-fold our normal sales figures."
And
while people were still "very apprehensive" about the security of the
banking element involved in online purchases, "this is slowly beginning
to break down," he said.
Among the items that topped the list
of online purchases through their site were brandname clothing,
jewellery and toys, said Swanich.
He said online shoppers were
interested in this form of spending in search of cheaper prices rather
than being "just interested in the convenience of this kind of
shopping".
Michael van Rooyen, of online book store Loot.co.za,
said his company had experienced significant growth this year and
expected revenue to be more than double that in 2005.
But, he
cautioned, affordable connectivity remained vital for the industry's
growth. "We're hoping that the cost of broadband connectivity will
continue to come down."
bidorbuy.co.za is Africa's largest online shopping website that brings buyers and sellers together in an online marketplace where sellers can sell virtually anything online and shoppers can bid for or buy, almost anything in either an online auction or shoppingformat.
Online shopping has become a preferred means of shopping for many experienced internet users. Despite the continuous threats to online shopping, buyers are becoming increasingly more confident that their online shopping or auction experience will be a secure one. And with increased uptake in South African broadband Internet usage as well as a more experienced online consumer, online shopping sites will see more consumers turning to the Internet for a number of commercial related transactions in addition to online banking. The more confident a user becomes with online banking and the more experience the consumer gains shopping online, the more comfortable they become in concluding other online transactions such as booking their travel experiences online or buying their cars on auction.
bidorbuy acts as an online shopping mall in a consumer-to-consumer arena, letting online shopping space to vendors to display their goods to their potential online shoppers. Goods sold range from vacation packages and flight tickets to computers, home electronics, motor vehicles, books, music and sports equipment and sellers may sell new, refurbished or second hand goods. Online sellers can expose their products to potential online shoppers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
bidorbuy.co.za is guaranteed to offer the best bargains for sale or on auction online, on a wide range of items, while sellers have the opportunity to use these promotions as a marketing tool to attract new buyers to their bargain items, while at the same time seeing positive results on their final sale prices. Many shoppers thrive on adrenalin shopping by participating in our online auctions, while the more cautious online shopper can shop comfortably for the items that are for sale as a buy now option as opposed to being placed on auction.
Basic Online Shopping Guidelines
Online shopping is one of the most convenient and exciting ways to shop today. Follow this buyer’s guide to brilliant bargains and instantly revolutionise your outlook on shopping. By following these straightforward steps and sticking to the guidelines, great bargains are an effortless way to a successful shopping spree.
* The first step is to register on bidorbuy.co.za as a buyer. Once you have completed this process you will receive an activation e-mail in your mail box by which you will authenticate and activate your shopping account.
* Next is to find an item you wish to purchase. You may do so by either running a search in the 'Keyword Search' list. box or'Advanced Search' , or alternatively you can browse for your items via the categories and sub-categories
* Like any other shopping expedition, once you have found the desired item you would like to purchase, check that the price that is currently listed is one that it competitive and one that you are prepared to pay.
* It is vital that you read the description of the item carefully and ensure that you are perfectly clear on what it is that you arebuying or bidding on. Many users don’t realize that once a bid is placed on an item, this is a legal and binding action and should not be regarded as immaterial.
* Before placing a bid it is also crucial that you check the seller’s ratings.This will give you a better understanding of the seller’s credentials and the type of person you are dealing with.
* Another key facet to pay attention to before buying or placing a bid on the desired item is the sellers shipping specifications.
* If there are any details of the sale or auction that you are uncertain of, it is always advisable to make use of the Q & A section of the auction. Here you can ask the seller questions and get clarity on details that you are unsure of or have not been included in the items description.Now you are ready to place your bid or add the item to your shopping cart. If you are participating in anauction, you also have the option to input an automatic bid amount.
* Buyers are able to track an item’s status by selecting to “track this item” on the item’s auction page, as well as keep an eye on items which you have already bid on.
* Once you have won an auction you will receive an e-mail with all of the seller’s contact details as well as their payment requirements. You will be required to complete an order form where you will input your selected shipping details as well as payment method.Upon receiving this e-mail, the seller will also receive an e-mail with your contact details.
* Once your order has been confirmed it is up to you to make payment for the item and advise the seller accordingly.
Safe Online Shopping Guidelines
Security is still regarded as one of the largest barriers inhibiting online shopping whereby shoppers are reluctant to engage in Internet transactions through fear of being e-burgled or having their confidentially breached. While we recognise that there are evil perpetrators out there who are looking to take advantage of the naive online shopper, it is important to remember that most reputable websites where online transactions are concluded take a very proactive stance on e-security. Such websites stake their reputation on ensuring that they invest much time, hard work and serious capital into building a secure and safe platform in which their users can shop in confidence.
So before checking out your online shopping cart or concluding your online purchase or auction, be congisant of these potential dangers and follow some basic safety guidelines to ensure that your experience is fun, comfortable, safe and secure.
* Follow the bidorbuy safe buying tips.
* Make sure the website that you are dealing with is reputable and has a positive reputation amongst its community. Check out the bidorbuy ratings before buying or bidding on an item.
* Never give any of your Internet passwords to anyone including the owners of the website in question. While your username may be visible to everyone, your password is not and it should always remain completely confidential.
* Beware of Phishing scam artists. Phishing is a type of e-mail scam designed to steal your personal data, such as credit card numbers, passwords, account data, or other information.
* Credit card theft is the highest type of fraud conducted over the internet. So make sure never to disclose your credit card details to anyone over the telephone, in e-mails or on sms. Furthermore, before concluding a purchase on any website where you disclose your credit card details, make sure that you are in a secure website
* Find out of the sellers or online stores offer any form of warranties, guarantees or buyer protection services.
* The final and most important tip of all is, if at any stage you are not comfortable with any transaction, contact bidorbuy to discuss any concerns that you may have.
Sensible Payment Guidelines
Even the anxiety when processing payments online is diminishing and with so many options available, you no longer need to be proactive in finding alternative ways to feel secure when processing payments online. Each payment option has its pro’s and con’s and it is up to the savvy online shopper to weigh up these options and make a choice that best suits you at the time of purchase. To help you make your decision, here are some guidelines to consider:
Credit Card
Submitting credit card details online has a bad reputation from a security perspective but in truth, a credit card is an ideal method of paying for online purchases. The option to dispute any transaction processed on your card provides you with the ideal safety net. Should the seller fail to deliver purchases, buyers are able to request a reversal of the transaction following an investigation carried out by their bank. Security should not be a concern, provided the user knows what to look out for. A secure site uses encryption technology to scramble sensitive information which you submit. The only people who are able to unscramble this encryption is the user, by accessing their account with their unique password, username and/or other access codes required.
EFT or Cash Deposit
Again this is a common payment method when purchasing online and for a buyer you are secure in that you do not divulge any information to the respective seller. Cash deposits are also an option but the trip to the bank is a perfect contradiction to the very reason why we transact online. It is also wise to note that unlike other options mentioned, should the seller fail to deliver the purchased items, it is virtually impossible and an admin intensive exercise to get your money back.
Read More
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1858082,00.html?cnn=yes
Will Online Sales Brighten a Bleak Holiday Season?
By KRISTINA DELL Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2008
As retailers brace for penny-pinching shoppers this holiday season, they're hoping their websites can deliver some good news. At the very least, the Internet should outdo the sidewalk in delivering sales growth: holiday forecasts predict zero to 2.2% overall sales gains for November and December, according to respective estimates by Bain & Co. and the National Retail Federation (NRF), the world's largest retail trade association. By comparison, online retail sales are expected to grow 12%, to $44 billion, according to Forrester Research. Shoppers are migrating to the Web for a variety of reasons. Rising financial anxiety and tight credit availability are making holiday shopping this year an exercise in self-restraint, and the Web offers a quick, clean shot at purchasing 24 hours a day. Moreover, with websites like FatWallet and SlickDeals featuring bargain-basement prices, hunting around for the best value is a convenient mouse click away. That's an easier proposition for many than slogging to the mall and fighting traffic, crowds and parking problems. "Comparison-shopping online dwarfs what you can do in the real world," says Nita Rollins, a trends expert for digital marketing agency Resource Interactive. "You just open up six browsers." (See the 50 best websites of 2008.) Retailers are also discovering that by making their Web experience hassle-free and user-friendly, they can achieve better sales. That's why 42.9% of merchants have improved their search function, 42.6% have added or enhanced product videos and 32.7% have included customer reviews to help shoppers make buying decisions, according to Shop.org's 2008 eHoliday Study, conducted by Shopzilla. Further, 8 in 10 retailers are offering some kind of free shipping option this season, often with a stipulation like a minimum purchase amount. Consumers are increasingly savvy about playing these options for maximum value. "They will bundle their purchases so they can combine shipping costs or go to sites that only offer free shipping," says Jeffrey Grau, senior analyst at eMarketer, which analyzes digital media. One new force emerging in this year's holiday shopping spree is the increasing popularity of social shopping sites like Kaboodle, Etsy, ThisNext and Stylehive. Such online communities make buyers feel more comfortable opening their wallets. "People are reaching out for like-minded souls," says Wendy Liebman, CEO of WSL Strategic Retail, a New York-based retail consultancy. "Psychologically, it feels better if someone else is buying a product too." Kaboodle, the largest of the 25 or so social shopping sites in existence, lets community members discuss products, give one another shopping advice and receive feedback, like which item makes a better gift. "It's MySpace meets Amazon," says Ken Cassar, analyst at Nielson Online. (See the Top 10 social-networking websites.) Other sites, like the month-old Wishabi, involve members acting as personal shoppers. People post wish lists while deal hunters (anyone can serve as one) search the Net to find the best bargains for those items. The results are then rated by the site's Deal Rank software. If the person ends up buying an item, the deal hunter who found the price gets a small percentage of the commission. "People are leveraging other people to determine if deals are good," says Wehuns Tan, CEO of Wishabi. Adds Resource Interactive's Rollins: "The retailer that accepts that social media can be a revenue driver is the one who is going to win." In fact, brands are noticing that online communities have more buying persuasion power than store sales clerks. And they're forming more partnerships with social sites now that traffic numbers are at an all-time high. In October 2007, Kaboodle had nearly 3 million unique monthly visitors. By October 2008, it tripled that number to 10.8 million and also logged its highest numbers for revenue, traffic and registered users. "We have seen a lot more deals and discounts this year happening across the site," says founder and CEO Manish Chandra. Likewise, Etsy, a site where community members buy and sell handmade goods, pulled in $8.4 million in gross merchandise sales in October 2008, compared with $2.96 million during the same period in 2007. That's a gain that can elicit holiday cheer.
Article Source:http://www.safeshopping.org
Seller: What Do You Know About The Seller?
The Seller
Do you know the seller's reputation?You might feel safer dealing with companies you already know and trust. If you're not familiar with the name and reputation of a company-and especially if a seller has sent you an unsolicited e-mail message ("spam")-find out more before you buy. With a click you can check a company's reputation by contacting the Better Business Bureau at bbbonline.org or the Office of the State Attorney General in your state or the state where the seller is located. You may access these at naag.org, the website of the National Association of Attorneys General.
Also, consumers can search for businesses that have qualified for the BBBOnline Reliability and Privacy Seals.
Spam
How can you avoid "spam"?Although many e-mails say to click on a link if you would like your name removed from the seller's mailing list, some experts advise against doing that unless the email is clearly from a merchant that you have dealt with on a regular basis. You can probably rely on the "unsubscribe" or "delete" link in email from a merchant you know. However, if you have never dealt with person or merchant who sent the email, do not click on the "delete" link or respond directly. Your response tells the spammer that your address is a "live one" and may then sell it to others who wish to send unsolicited commercial messages. A better way to deal with spam is to contact your Internet service provider to complain about these messages and to ask whether they can be blocked.
Check the privacy policy of merchants you are thinking of buying from. That policy usually says whether they will transfer your information to anyone else and may provide a way for you to say you do not want to it go to anyone else. The privacy policy may also allow you to limit promotional emails sent out by that merchant.
The Individual
Do you know the individual's reputation?Some online auction sites offer "feedback" areas where customers discuss their experiences with a particular person auctioning off goods. Before submitting a bid on an item, check the remarks made about the seller. Remember, however, that positive responses may have been placed by friends and family.
The Address
Will the seller be at the same web address tomorrow?With a physical store or a catalog, you know where to turn if you run into problems. But in cyberspace, all you may have is a web address. Look on the site for a street address and phone number or do a web search on the seller. Be wary if the seller's only contact information is a post office box.
International Buying
Are you buying from someone located outside the U.S.?Since it's the World Wide Web, sellers might well be located in other countries. If so, you might not have the same legal rights, or be able to enforce your rights as easily, as when the seller is located in the United States.
Company Experience
Does it matter if the seller has experience selling the product?The law generally gives you more protection when you buy an item from a seller who regularly sells those items.
Authorized Seller
Is the company an authorized seller?You may get better warranty service if you buy from an authorized seller. How do you know who's authorized? You can call the manufacturer of the product you're interested in, or visit the manufacturer's web site to check if the operator of the site has been authorized to sell the manufacturer's product.
Still Selling
Is the seller still in business?You may wish to telephone or send an e-mail to be sure the seller is still in operation, particularly if the web site's material appears to be old or out of date.
Online Shopping for Discounts
Thursday, 24 January 2008
www.onlineshopping.co.za
When it comes to shopping online you always want to extract the best possible deal. Here are some innovative ways to save money every time you shop. Now you can perform discount shopping no matter which site you visit!
Set your budget
Before you even go about shopping online, you need to allocate a budget for your shopping. When you are carrying a coupon code along with you on your shopping expedition, it is easy to get tempted to buy many things all at once. This can make you easily lose sight of your budget and expenses allocated.
Research
When you go about buying a product, no matter what it is, always do some research. Even if you have a discount shopping code it is important to know enough about the product before buying. Otherwise you risk buying a substandard product which isn't of the best quality you had expected.
Impulsive shopping: avoid it
It is very easy to get carried away with your voucher code and other discounted deals around. You can easily be led into buying things impulsively. You might even end up buying things you don't really need, making you regret the decision later on! So it is always best to avoid impulsive behavior while shopping and keep a level head.
Total pricing
Many times the shipping expenses can work out to be so much that the overall costs end up being extremely steep. If you want to perform some serious discount shopping then it is essential to have a fair idea on the total costs involved. Otherwise you might end up paying too much on shipping and paying a heavy price in the process.
Plan it out
Usually you will find a wide range of coupon code that offers a large range of products on discount. This can make you really go haywire and go shopping for items which aren't really needed. Hence always make sure to plan your shopping expedition ahead in order to avoid spending too much or on things that aren't necessary.
Coupon codes
One of the best ways to really save on money is to use a coupon code which will enable you to leverage substantial discounts. Instead of the cash counter person scan the coupon you will enter the discount shopping code into your shopping cart online. You may not realize this before you start shopping but using such coupons can really end up saving you a lot of money in the process.
Clearance sales
When you plan on going discount shopping one of the things you can do to save on money is to look for online clearance sales. You can keep coming back to the site to look out for deals. You can even do a search of the manufacturer's name online to find out if they have a clearance sale going on.
Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com
Online shopping sweeping the country
January 10 2007 at 01:49PM Source: www.iol.co.za |
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By Sharlene Packree
There were no heavy bags to carry, frustrating queues to stand in and no traffic to fight.
This festive season, shopping took on a whole new meaning as the online shopping trend swept the country.
Instead of pushing a shopping trolley around, now one can sit in the
comfort of their home and order food, CDs and clothes via the Internet.
More and more South Africans are choosing to shop online because of the convenience it offers.
Africa's largest online market place - Bidorbuy.co.za - has reported an
average sales growth of 34 percent, or a monthly sales increase of
R1,49-million.
According to its business manager, Gillian Meier, the festive season saw an increase of 21 percent in new registered users and almost 70 percent more product listings on the Internet. Other stores have now also joined them online and offer this quick and easy service to customers.
Hannes van der Walt, owner of the Gadget Shop, a website that sells weird and wacky gadgets, said he noticed a 50-60 percent increase in online orders over the festive season.
"We were extremely busy over December fielding orders from all over the country. Online shopping is becoming extremely popular among South Africans who are now more aware and more comfortable with online shopping," he said.
Van der Walt said he started the website as a "marketing mechanism", however it later grew when many people expressed an interest in online shopping.
"It's expensive to maintain an e-commerce website; however, we do get orders daily, especially at Christmas, Father's Day and birthdays. Business is good," he added.
Even though the online shopping trend is catching on in the country, Van der Walt believes South Africans still lag behind their American and UK counterparts.
"I believe there is a huge market for online shopping in SA. But certain rules and regulations need to be in place to avoid improper policies."
Another favourite store among online shoppers is Woolworths, who have offered its customers an online facility for the past five years.
They have also seen a steady increase in the number of customers buying online.
"Most of our online shopping is focused on food and a select range of gifting. We find this mix meets our customers' needs," said a spokeswoman.
She added: "Woolworths is constantly looking for ways to make our customers' shopping experience as convenient as possible and our online service is an integral part of meeting our customers' expectations."
Tiffany Naidoo, an online shopper from Reservoir Hills, said: "I prefer buying online because it's quicker, easier and efficient. There are no hassles and I don't have to deal with incompetent sales people, as I often do normally."
- This article was originally published on page 2 of Daily News on January 10, 2007
