Dealfinder launches to help SA retailers market their products online

As customers, we all love finding out what’s cheap when and where. Publishing company The Caxton and CTP Group today announced the launch of Dealfinder — a new site that enables you to browse for shopping deals online by area, retailer, category or by brand name.

The company notes that in South Africa, online retail sales only represents around 1-2% of total retail sales but online browsing and researching activity is still massive, which plays a big role in offline purchases.

For retailers, Dealfinder is meant to be a powerful tool to establish what consumers want. Marc du Plessis, GM at Dealfinder notes, “While consumers can sign up for category, brand or product alerts, retailers and brands will be able to communicate directly with consumers who have shown an interest or are in the market for particular products.”

Furthermore, Dealfinder also offers various marketing tools to subscribed retailers. This includes access to a Wishlist database of what consumers want. There are also SMS or email marketing campaigns to target specific groups and interactive competitions and campaigns.

Du Plessis says that unlike sites such as PriceCheck:

“Dealfinder is not a price comparison site but rather a functional online showcase of in-store deals. For consumers, it means that they can find deals that are relevant and available close by. The consumer can either browse through thousands of deals or search by retailer, category, product or brand.

Dealfinder further notes that its new online platform is an extension of printed advertising. With internet penetration growing in South Africa and the print media industry taking a hit, having an online market reach becomes more crucial.

While mobile plays such an important role in gaining internet access, especially in South Africa, there is a Dealfinder app in the pipeline which is to be launched “soon”.

As Du Plesis suggests, “Markets are thin and not many people are shopping for an item at any given time, that’s why media that has mass reach, like our local papers coupled with Dealfinder.co.za, are the only platforms that will deliver prospective buyers week in, week out.”