The 2016 PriceCheck Tech & Ecommerce Awards concluded last night with Takealot.com snagging the overall win.
The PriceCheck awards celebrate businesses doing innovative things in the tech and ecommerce industries. The awards, which took place at a gala dinner held in Cape Town, saw Takealot.com walking away with the Overall Winner Award as well as the People’s Choice Award.
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Each nominee was selected by public nomination, thereafter the nominees were submitted to a panel of judges. These judges then selected the top three nominees per category to finally choose the winner.
The panel consisted of director of emerging markets at Criteo, Dirk Henke; editor-in-chief of Stuff Magazine, Toby Shapshak as well as co-founder of Useful and Beautiful, Lynette Hundermark. The panel also included the founder of Creative Spark, Matthew Buckland; co-founder of Delv, Geoff Cohen; vice-chair of Silicon Cape, Lianne du Toit and industry expert Alastair Tempest.
One of the toughest categories to compete in, as mentioned by PriceCheck’s CEO and founder Kevin Tucker, was the Best Mobile Shopping Experience category which was awarded to fashion retailer Zando.
“Given that the mobile shopping experience is becoming so important, it was unsurprising that the three finalists in this category all offer a great mobile service for their customers,” said Tucker in a press release to Memeburn.
The tech and ecommerce awards showed the emergence of new businesses in addition to established companies
“Major emphasis is being placed on optimising the mobile customer experience, and Zando exemplifies this with various features that encourage consumers to explore and ultimately purchase online,” continued Tucker.
The founder of SweepSouth, Aisha Pandor, was named the Best Female Tech/Ecommerce Entrepreneur as well as the Best Black Tech/Ecommerce Entrepreneur. The competition wasn’t an easy one as she competed with the founder of Livestock Wealth, Ntuthuko Shezi, for the awards.
“The success of these passionate entrepreneurs who are breaking ground within niche categories really speaks to the importance of understanding and believing in your product,” continued Tucker.
One surprise for the evening came from Funky Tights, an online retailer dealing in custom tights, who were the winners of the Best Small Online Business Award due to their company’s rapid growth over a short period of time.
“To gain traction in today’s online marketplace requires far more than just a product and a slick platform, it requires real passion and a willingness to put yourself out there behind your ideas,” said Tucker.
“This year’s awards reflected the general formalisation of the sector, with the bigger brands coming to the fore and really starting to stand out within their categories. Within financial services, for example, the major banks are taking the lead,” concluded Tucker.
All of the winners
Best Fintech Platform – WiGroup
Best Payment Service – SnapScan
Best Mobile Shopping Experience – Zando
Best Overall Shopping Experience – Zando
Best Travel Booking Service – Travelstart
Best On-Demand Service – Uber
Best Online Financial Service Platform – FNB
Best Small Online Business – Funky Tights
Best Online Classified Platform – OLX
Best Marketplace Platform – BidorBuy
Best Delivery/Logistics Provider – DHL
Best Customer Service – Takealot
Best Black Tech/E-Commerce Entrepreneur – Aisha Pandor (SweepSouth)
Best Female Tech/E-Commerce Entrepreneur – Aisha Pandor (SweepSouth)
Employer of the Year – OneDayOnly
People’s Choice Award – Takealot
Overall Winner – Takealot
Disclosure: One of the judges, Matthew Buckland, is the MD of Creative Spark Interactive, the parent company of Burn Media.
