Not only has price comparison site PriceCheck leaped to the forefront of the online shopping movement, the company has also launched an app that beat out 100,000 other candidates in May to win App of the Year at the Blackberry Live Conference in Florida, as reported on business site SouthAfrica.info.
Designed specifically for the South African and Nigerian markets, PriceCheck compares prices of products and finds the cheapest deals — assuring the company deeper reach into its customer base over the coming years.
PriceCheck was launched in 2006 by CEO Kevin Tucker, who realized more South Africans were going online to do their shopping and needed a guide to find the best deals.
Fueled with seed money from Cape Town-based Staal Internet for product development and expansion, PriceCheck now provides product information for consumers and high quality traffic to e-commerce sites and portals for business partners around the African continent.
“We were very happy with this cooperation,” Tucker said. “The seed capital and know-how of our investor enabled PriceCheck to improve the service and expand the relevant information for users at a faster pace.”
Tucker created an online entity to lure shoppers within clicking distance of retailers providing the most competitive prices. Retailers saw the benefits to linking to the site, which ensured their products would be seen by thousands of ready customers. Today, PriceCheck is South Africa’s premier site where prices are compared on thousands of books, DVDs, electronics, games, cameras, music, and more.
“The number of South African consumers discovering the convenience and advantage of online shopping is growing rapidly,” Tucker said.
But that’s not all. The PriceCheck app, which took the App of the Year prize at May’s Blackberry Live Conference, serves as an extension of the company website, comparing prices for some 30 million products in 6,000 categories, in about 500 online stores for 1.3 million users per month — 350,000 of them mobile customers, according to the site.
