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Canadians like to do homework before buying, says CEO of online shopping site |
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Written by LuAnn LaSalle, THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Tuesday, February 03 2009, 10:28 AM |
MONTREAL — It’s an online shopping experience designed to appeal to a Canuck’s personality.
Wishabi.ca is a new Toronto-based site that uses social networking and has tailored itself to how Canadians apparently like to make their purchases.
“The typical Canadian shopper is cautious but smart with their money,” says CEO Wehuns Tan. “What we see is Canadian shoppers love to do research.”
And that means talking to family, friends and co-workers about products. Tan said Wishabi appeals to Canadians’ sociability by letting users bring their Facebook social network to the site to help them find the best deals.
Wishabi has partnered with about 70 Canadian and U.S. merchants, such as Canadian Tire, the Bay, Home Depot, Sears, Zellers, Future Shop, Amazon.com and Newegg.com.
A user can compare prices on various products at the different retailers. Traffic is directed to their sites and purchases go through these businesses.
Wishabi’s competitors include Canadian comparison shopping site Shoptoit.com, RedFlagDeals.com and Canada Post’s Borderfree.
Statistics Canada has said that Canadians have become more comfortable buying online. Almost $12.8 billion worth of shopping orders were placed online in 2007, up 61 per cent increase from the previous survey in 2005.
Up and running for just days, Wishabi was founded by Tan and three university friends who were eating sushi and talking about online shopping when they were asked if they wanted wasabi sauce. They then decided to call their company Wishabi, with a nod to the sauce.
Wishabi provides prices, shipping, taxes and duty in American dollars if ordering from the U.S., and allows product and price comparisons in both countries, Tan said.
Digital commentator Carmi Levy said retailers will be forced to compete on prices.
“It’s hard to get away with uncompetitive prices now because of services like this,” said Levy, senior vice-president of strategic consulting at Toronto’s AR Communications Inc.
“This is the long-anticipated impact of the Internet on retail behaviour. We have seen this coming for years, that it would become easier and easier for consumers to do comparative shopping online.”
What Wishabi also lets a user do is create a shopping “wishlist” to track deals and offers for desired products. The company pays people who find the best deals, which not only include price but things like warranty, return policy and customer service, Tan said. He said the overall value comparison of a product is more important than just its price.
Tan said Wishabi doesn’t track prices on individual clothing items.
“It’s very, very difficult for people to kind of compare and contrast clothing,” said Tan, who added the site is working to track the prices of clothing brands in the future.
Sears’ Paige Malling agreed that Wishabi will create more transparency for consumers, something she said has been lacking in the marketplace at times. Sears is also listed on Shoptoit.com.
“It’s basically word-of-mouth advertising online where your friends are telling you what they’ve just bought and about deals,” said Malling, director of interactive marketing. “It’s definitely going to bring lots of customers to lots of different websites.”
U.S.-based Forrester analyst Zia Wigder said Wishabi is a niche website specific to the Canadian marketplace. She added that despite the tight economy, e-commerce is holding its own.
“In many cases, people are turning to the Internet to find deals. And as a channel, overall it’s only becoming more powerful,” she said from New York.
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