Takealot rules the roost when it comes to e-commerce in this country.

Fair enough – they deliver promptly, unlike some other companies (Loot, here’s looking at you), and handle most gripes with efficiency.

Here’s the thing, though – Takealot has come under fire numerous times for their ‘discounts’, and the problem isn’t going away.

There was this past Black Friday (see here), and if we cast our minds back a little further to June of last year, there was this MyBroadband takedown.

This time around it’s a Business Insider investigation, focusing on the daily deals offered by Takealot and OneDayOnly. They purport to offer big savings on popular products – usually upwards of 30% – for a limited time only.

‘Daily deals’ – you get it.

OneDayOnly has already been on the receiving end of two adverse findings by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), who found that they had inflated the prices to make the savings seem greater.

Despite those findings, Business Insider’s investigation claims that they’re still at it. Here are three examples that they found:

• A wireless karaoke microphone selling for R299. They advertised the product with a 57% discount, excluding shipping, off a claimed retail price of R700. The supplier, Gimmicks and Gizmos, is selling the same product on its website for R495, excluding shipping. This equates to an actual discount of 39.5%.
• A magnetic car mount for cellphones selling for R169, at a 44% discount off a claimed retail price of R300. The same product is selling without a discount on Digicape for R199.
• A decorative lamp selling for R189, at a 37% off a claimed retail price of R300. The supplier sells the same product on its website for just R6 more than One Day Only’s discounted price. This equates to an actual discount of 5.6%.

They found similar discrepancies over at Takealot.

Here are three examples from that retailer:

• A Bosch drill advertised as part of their Daily Deals was selling for R499 at an advertised discount of 28% off the claimed retail price of R699. Kloppers is currently selling the drill at the same price, without a discount.
• A Weber fireplace, selling on a Daily Deal for R1,799 – a 48% discount off the claimed retail price of R3,499 – is listed on the official Weber website at R2,799.00. The actual Daily Deal discount is therefore 35.7%.
• A chainsaw selling on a Daily Deal for R2,799 – a 13% discount off the claimed retail price of R3,250, is selling on the Kloppers website for  R2,499.

By now, both Takealot and OneDayOnly are used to these allegations being levelled against them, with the latter arguing that competitors will drop their prices on the day that they offer the deal, in order to compete.

Here’s their latest response:

OneDayOnly responded to the offers we identified by saying that “Wherever possible, we take the retail price directly from our suppliers. It allows us to run their products at a discount determined by their list price”.

In cases where the seller is unable to supply a retail price, OneDayOnly’s buying team does “comparative market research” the day before the deal in order to establish a retail price.

When it comes to Takealot, it’s a similar rebuttal:

Takealot says that they strive to offer their customers “the best prices that we are able to, however there will be cases when another retailer can offer the product at a lower price.”

Ultimately, consumers need to learn to be a little more savvy about how they shop, but it’s the ‘ticking time bomb’ style of the daily deals that often pressure people into making a purchase.

Call it FOMOD – fear of missing out on a deal.

Just remember that Google is your friend. You can copy and paste the product name into the search engine, click the ‘Shopping’ tab, and have a look at what other sites are offering.

Maybe you’re having a chainsaw shopping kind of day…

Voila, chainsaw options. You can also make use of price comparison sites like PriceCheck, to see if you can save some moola.

Please use your chainsaw responsibly, because we won’t be held accountable for your mishaps.

[source:businessinsider]