Shaun Harris
It’s Eve’s dream come true, and Madam doesn’t mind either. Deep in suburban Pretoria a group of about 50 domestic workers are doing their weekly grocery shopping over the Internet, using a sympathetic employer’s computer and credit card details, and having the goods delivered to the front door of their homes.
Similar “cells” of domestics are starting to spring up in other urban centres. Apparently highbrow Madams in Rosebank are only too happy to let the local maids do their shopping over the Net – they get the cash upfront and only have to repay the bank at the end of the month.
Lourens Botha, joint MD of McCarthy On-Line’s new electronic shopping and delivery service, called Mega Shopper, says he knows of a colleague setting up a similar scheme in a more rural area outside the capital, where shops are few and far between.
“Those 50 or so domestics in Pretoria have turned over about R18 000 in the past eight weeks. They arrive every week with their orders written out on pieces of paper, often noting details of specials on offer from various stores, and one of the employers enters the details over the Net that evening. The next day they have their groceries delivered.”
Botha says the delivery cost of R39 is often split among 10 or more maids. They choose a home that is central so that they can collect their purchases and walk home.
Botha has identified four reasons for the popularity of virtual shopping among the domestic worker sorority: lack of transport, making it attractive for large orders to be delivered; the “two-bag limit” imposed by minibus tax drivers on passengers; security – no need to worry about muggers when taking your groceries home; and prices, with Net shoppers paying the shelf price of goods, and being able to take advantage of special offers, while the delivery charge can be split up.
Most domestics, who often still live far from their place of employment, are seldom able to do more than a few days’ shopping at a time.
“It shows that the Net is not just the preserve of the A and B income groups, but can be useful to everyone. There is massive potential for a growth cottage industry here – all you need is a personal computer linked to the Net and a credit card,” Botha says. “I just wish the authorities would make the Net more accessible to ordinary people.”
Research by McCarthy On-Line shows that women handle the bulk of family finance and purchase decisions. Under the slogan “Long- term viability of the Internet depends on keeping women clicking” they estimate that their recently launched electronic grocery shopping service will be worth about R36- billion by 2003.