File image: IOL. File image: IOL.
CAPE TOWN – Takealot started their blue dot sale for Black Friday on Friday at midnight and this saw the company reaching a record number of visitors to its site.
The company generated more than R11,5 million worth of transactions in the first hour alone and surpassed the R87 million GMV mark – the total value of transactions generated last year Black Friday 2017 – by 08:30 on Friday.
However, customers took to social media stating that they were very unhappy with the online retailer due to numerous issues such as problems with paying for their items on the website, some consumers found that they were charging more for the item today than a few days ago and complaints came through with the website not being responsive.
Takealot reached out to Business Report to provide clarity on these matters.
With regard to the price of a product changing at check-out, Julie-Anne Walsh, chief marketing officer at Takealot.com said: "As with all promotions, a limited number of units are made available at the sale price.
"It is possible for the discounted stock to sell out between the time that it takes for customers to add it to their shopping basket and check-out. In this case, the product returns to its original list price."
With regards to sale items appearing more expensive than before: "Takealot.com all discounts are calculated using the original list price (also known as the recommended retail price) as a base and not the most recent selling price.
"Because the most recent selling price is often already discounted,the Blue Dot price can sometimes appear that is hasn't been discounted but it definitely has been. You will note in the example shared with us - that the previous price is marked as a Daily Deal, which means it was already discounted," said Walsh.