TABLE OF CONTENTS
Add a header to begin generating the table of contents
People often ask us if they should buy a .co.za or .com for b2b company (domain name) for their website in South Africa. So I have put together a list of 21 reasons to go .co.za for a B2B company operating and selling in South Africa.
They are based on things I have picked up as:
- a consumer,
- a marketer,
- a market intelligence researcher and as
- a business owner.
The first 10 are noted below in this post and the final 11 will follow in the next blog post.
LEARN MORE ABOUT MARKETING STRATEGY AND INBOUND MARKETING BY DOWNLOADING OUR FREE EBOOK HERE
A .co.za domain name:
- Signals your localness to locals
- Shows your intention to be local
- Price – a co.za website is selling in Rands (ZAR) which is easier to transact
- Price – a co.za website is surely going to be doing its best to absorb currency fluctuation
- Price – many a South African has found the perfect solution to their problem but found it’s priced in a currency ten or twenty times the Rand. (To be honest I sometimes wish I didn’t know such solutions existed because they might as well not exist, the USD X10 or X15 or X20 and fluctuating, is just pointless.
- A co.za website is probably going to carry stock in-country. It takes 3 to 6 months for an order to come via container from China/Europe/USA to Johannesburg. How many needs can wait that long?
- A .co.za website will probably have a South African Service/repairs/parts workshop. Products flow in one direction – from Europe/China/US to SA in bulk. A single broken or faulty product doesn’t get sent back to the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for assessment because it’s too expensive to transport that single item.
- Warranty – a .co.za website will probably uphold warranty. It must get fixed or assessed here or it’s a lost cause. Warranty by international manufacturers are often academic if there is no local Service/repairs/parts workshop. If they waive their right to assessment and just replace no questions asked – its another 6 months until it gets here if they don’t have stock.
- Catalogue – downloading the catalogue from a .com website is going to generally yield the standard international catalogue. It will no doubt be stuffed full of irrelevant products. (Think- tyres for driving on ice, forklift batteries for cold weather operation, water pumps for central heating.)
- Catalogue – has many nice products, often the A-Z of a solution but because SA might have a small market for the more specialized items the importer doesn’t bring them in – yet it’s in the catalogue. Imagine going through a car manufacturing catalogue and finding a whole range of self-driving cars for sale but when you enquire they say sorry we don’t bring those in
If you’re deciding on a new domain name then you’re probably also wanting your website to produce leads for your business. Have a look at our latest ebook on “What you need to know about marketing stratagey and inbound marketing” (ie making your website deliver results.)
