(28 May 2012) South Africa’s online marketplace bobshop.co.za has recently introduced the concept of stores on its website.

“For buyers, shopping from a Bob Shop store means complete peace of mind”, says Bob Shop CEO Jaco Jonker. “They can be assured of high quality products and receive excellent service.”

“Not everyone can set up a store on Bob Shop”, says Jaco Jonker. “To qualify, sellers must have a good selling record. Moreover, they must maintain that good record on the site. We regularly monitor their performance to ensure that Bob Shop stores are really the cream of the crop.”

He points out that verified stores are afforded higher buyer protection cover. “Depending on the store level, it is possible for buyers to get protection of up to R5000, R6000 or R7500 when buying from a basic, advanced or premium verified store respectively,” he says.

Regular verified sellers, who are not a Bob Shop store, can benefit from a maximum of R3000 buyer protection cover.

Garmin South Africa is among the first stores featured on Bob Shop, with an opening special rate on touch screen golf devices. More than ten virtual stores have opened their doors on Bob Shop including a home store, toy store, fashion stores, jewellery stores, electronics and gadget stores, to name a few. 

“For small businesses, being featured in the Bob Shop stores is a low-cost and effective way to break into ecommerce”, says Bob Shop CEO. “It is also a good way for established businesses to expand their sales and acquire new customers.”

Sellers can set up a basic, advanced or premium virtual store, taking advantage of different levels of branding and buyer protection. The monthly “rentals” are currently R500, R600 and R750 for basic, advanced and premium store fronts respectively. Bob Shop has no listing fees and charges up to 5% commission on items successfully sold on the site.

The Bob Shop stores range from very small businesses for which Bob Shop is a primary or even the only selling outlet to bigger companies that have own ecommerce websites, for which Bob Shop is an additional selling channel.

“Anyone who is serious about ecommerce cannot afford to ignore bobshop.co.za, because this is one of the most popular South African sites, with over 1.2 million unique visitors per month”, says Bob Shop CEO.