E-commerce has brought shopping right to one’s fingertips, but consumers should consider whether it’s necessarily such a good idea to buy something that’s more than an arm’s length away on a cyber shelf on the other side of an internet connection. That’s whether such a shelf with the product you have just purchased online is even there. According to Thomas Reisenberger, compliance adviser at Legalwise, these and other “interesting considerations” have necessitated a careful approach to e-commerce and its possible pitfalls, for online shoppers and e-merchants alike. Delving into context at the October-launch of Trustmark, a verification endorsement initiated by E-commerce Forum South Africa (EFSA), Reisenberger said cyber consumerism was really about “ethereal commerce". “People cannot touch, smell, taste and meet the product like they used to. It has brought about a completely new way of thinking about ecommerce in South Africa. It forces us to think about how we engage with platforms. Can we trust them?” Looked at another way, it boiled down to not being able “to kick the tyre as it were anymore”, he said using an expression that harks back to a time when consumers preferred to physically check the validity of goods. However, in the age of smart device convenience those days are gone for good. But is that necessarily such a good thing – not being able to kick the old proverbial tyre? Reisenberger said understaffed and underresourced regulators had resulted in a hit-and-miss situation. All the more reason then for the EFSA to have come up with a “symbol to fill the gap” when online shoppers aren’t sure whether something is legit or not. And apart from vouchsafing aspects of legitimacy, the Trustmark is also there as a yardstick for e-commerce merchants. Reisenberger explained that on the consumer end it meant Legalwise checks, on behalf of the EFSA, to determine whether a portal has a director at the end of the line, whether a site’s contact details can be determined within three clicks or less, and whether or not information on a platform is used to bamboozle visitors down a maze of click-heavy navigation, or to boost e-commerce efficiency. Similarly, on the merchant end, it helps platform entrepreneurs to comply with technical e-commerce specifications such as section 43 of the Electronic Communications Transactions Act. Because shoppers had become savvy about e-commerce, Reisenberger said, it helped legitimate online merchants to further their interests – not only through complying with the basics of the Consumer Protection Act, but going beyond it. “In under 15 seconds platforms have to catch consumers and they have to keep them. With Trustmark, consumers have a clear indicator that the why, when and where of what they are buying is reliable, trustworthy and lawful.”
INSERT: In under 15 seconds platforms have to catch consumers and they have to keep them. – Thomas Reisenberger
