South Africa’s Orange Store is shutting down online

Update #2, 1 December, 9.11am: Orange also noted that its brick and mortar stores will also be shuttered, and will be “utilized for other purposes by the owner of the property”.

Update #1, 1 December, 7.30am: The Orange Store has issued a statement on the SA version of its storefront, adding that CTDI will step in for service-related issues.

“We leave you in the good hands of our trusted partner CTDI (formerly Regenersis) who will assist with any warranty and/or return queries from the 1st of December 2016. CTDI is one of the largest repair providers with over 70 locations around the world, you may rest assured that the CTDI team will take good care of you,” read an excerpt of the statement.

“Should you need to contact CTDI in relation to a return and/or warranty query for an Orange purchase, please find the appropriate contact details for the Customer Service team managing Orange queries,” it added.

Original article: According to a new report, the Orange Store’s online division will shutter in South Africa. On a much larger scale, the company’s Orange Horizon’s project will also be shut down.

Orange notes that the decision to terminate the Orange Store (and the Orange Horizon’s project as a whole) is based on a renewed focus of its “core footprint markets”, the company told TechCentral.

The move will also affect other Horizon countries, notably fellow BRICS member Brazil.

A visit to Orange’s local website reveals no links to the company’s store. Additionally, it also seems that trying to access variations of the original store URL results in a blank page.

French-company Orange, primarily known beyond South African borders as a telecoms giant, opened two brick and mortar stores in the country retailing a number of consumer technologies to support its online store. Its first, in Claremont, Cape Town, sold a number of SIM-free devices from the likes of Motorola, OnePlus and Google’s Nexus range.

Orange Store will shut up its online shop in South Africa, and other nations, citing a change of focus

But while it seems that these local stores remain unscathed for now, Orange has announced that its online store will be axed.

Orange opens its first South African retail store in Cape Town

Orange Horizons has today announced that its new physical retail store will finally open its doors to consumers after quite a long delay. Read more…

“We have cherished the opportunity to serve you and would like to thank you once again for your business,” the company told MyBroadband in a statement.

Orange will reportedly rely on British repair and logistics company CTDI to follow through with residual warranties and local repairs. This partnership will begin on 1 December 2016.

We’ve reached out to Orange Horizons and the company’s local division for further comment.

Here is the Orange Group’s full statement:

The Orange Group has decided to wind up the Orange Horizons program globally. This was a strategic decision that was taken on an Orange Group level, and does not reflect on the specific performance of the program in South Africa. As part of the Group’s Essentials2020 strategy and given the high level of competition on the Group’s major markets such as in France, Orange has decided to focus on its core footprint markets where it is active on the Consumer market as a network operator. Orange Business Services and Globecast remain in South Africa, the Orange Top Up offer will also continue to be available.

This decision affects all countries where exploratory activities under the Orange Horizons business unit had commenced, such as South Africa, Brazil and European countries such as Germany etc.

Africa continues to invest heavily in Africa as a whole, which represents an important part of its strategy for international development. For example, Orange has acquired MNO operations in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso this year. These reflect market opportunities to invest in specific countries that fit within the Group’s overall footprint (mostly Maghreb, West and Central Africa).

The Orange brand has been active in the South African market under business units including, Orange Horizons, Orange Business Services and Globecast. It is only the Orange Horizons activity that is being withdrawn. We also keep Orange Top Up online platform. Orange Business Services and Globecast will remain in South Africa, which is a very important market for them, and there is no intention to change this position.

In terms of the physics store, the store already ceased trading and will be utilized for other purposes by the owner of the property.

Feature image: Laurent Grassin via Flickr