FijiShop.com cashes in on E-commerce boom

By Bernadette Hussein

E -commerce is fast becoming a popular way to shop.

Thousands of companies around the world are falling into this trend because they don’t want to be left behind in the Internet rush.

One that aims to make Fijian products available to buyers on the World Wide Web is inet or Internet Fiji.

Internet Fiji offers professional web page design services, industrial strength web hosting and

electronic commerce solutions for small businesses, corporate clients, media and the tourist industry.

The brains behind the project are Dominic Sansom, Stefan Ali and Jan Dunlop. FijiShop.com went on-line in December offering 50 Fiji-made

products.

According to Ali, this was something they had thought about for a while.

“We got to the point early last year when we thought we’d do something for ourselves because at the time, the work that we did was pretty much determined by other people,” he said.

“We took a look at the avenues open to us and the only practical one was the shop. We bounced that around within the partners and then decided that the shop was what we were going to do.”

But he stressed that FijiShop.com wasn’t the end of it. In fact, many other things were in the pipeline.

“The shop has to establish a presence quickly because there are other things we want to do.

“The shop is very much limited to what we want to see. It is ours so we get to do what we want. We’ve gone out and picked quality products which we feel will do well.

“These are specifically local products which include books, CDs, a certain amount of clothing, spices, coffee, kava and handicraft. We feel these products provide value for money.”

The Internet address for the shop is

www.FijiShop.com.

Ali said when people visit the site, they will notice that all the items are genuinely homegrown.

“We have found that former residents or anyone who has had anything to do with Fiji are always after products from Fiji. And

unless they have it sent to them, there is no other way of getting hold of them. But FijiShop.com allows them to do this. It has it’s own niche market.”

Compared to other shops on-line, Ali said FijiShop.com was special.

“You find that a lot of items available on the web can be easily purchased at any electronic store and shop around the world.

But the products available on FijiShop.com can only be bought in Fiji. That is what

makes us different from

other shops.

“For example, Fijian music. Unless a relative or friend sends one from Fiji, there is no other avenue for people to purchase a CD or tape.

You are not going to find it in big Internet shops because they just don’t carry them.

“With FijiShop.com, they will be able to go on-line, listen to a couple of tracks and they can then place their order. It’s that

simple.”

Once the order is placed, the staff of FijiShop.com process credit card details and prepare the package for shipment. That usually takes a day or two.

In most cases, it does not take more than two weeks for the package to reach its destination.

“It depends on how the

customer wants the package shipped. Express courier will take only about three days, while DHL mail, about a week. A lot depends on where the customer is.”

The range of products available is wide.

It includes soap and lotions from Sandollars, shirts and T-shirts from Stolen

The FijiShop.com website