Telecom's online marketplace Ferrit.co.nz has gone live and apart from the unfortunate name which evokes visions of furry rodents, the $15 million venture looks promising.
The website is a place for merchants to ply their wares. Tech-savvy retailers like Real Groovy, Ascent and Gameplanet have been joined by the likes
of Lighting Direct and Smiths City.
The idea is that Ferrit becomes the place Kiwis go first to research products, compare prices and place orders. It's the Amazon.com model on a smaller scale, and as with Amazon and online auction website TradeMe.co.nz, Ferrit will become useful when it reaches a critical mass of merchants and products.
There are several product categories, such as books and magazines and health and beauty, but the search engine is your path to products of interest.
Like Amazon, Ferrit will feature user reviews of products and point to reviews from online publications - particularly useful for gauging the usefulness and value of gadgets.
User reviews are few and far between at this stage but Amazon and other overseas shopping sites have shown that people enjoy being keyboard critics. Some products on Amazon have hundreds of user comments attached to them. I counted 54 retailers on Ferrit which will offer 1.25 million products initially.
The big question is whether people will to go to Ferrit rather than directly to retailers' websites. At the moment, when you decide to buy a product online, you are passed on to the retailer's website anyway.
From next year, Telecom will process transactions through Ferrit, which may give consumers peace of mind about entering their credit card details to make payments. The other advantage of using a site like Ferrit is that you can compare prices from several retailers at once.
The promising thing about these sites is that Kiwi companies are really starting to embrace the direct-to-consumer shipping model.
For instance, music retailer Real Groovy offers free national shipping for everything other than LP records. A number of electronics resellers offer free shipping on the North Island. As Ferrit's popularity grows I'd expect free shipping to become a common feature of the e-tailer's sales pitches.
With free overnight delivery and the ability to steer clear of the bustle of the high street retailers, I can see people taking to Ferrit in a big way.
- HERALD ON SUNDAY