Zimbabwe-based auction house Hammer and Tongues Africa Holdings (HT) has expanded its online auction platform to become an online shopping mall, the company has announced
While announcing the online shopping platform, HT CEO Brian Makwabarara said, “This has been in the pipeline for about two years, the accepted payment platforms are ZimSwitch, Visa, MasterCard and PayPal. We have allowed other companies to sell on our platform for a commission.”
According to Makwabarara, the payment systems the company has chosen will reduce transaction costs for merchants compared to using other payment platforms. He added that the system has been successfully tested for security.
Some of the companies that have partnered with HT are cement manufacturer Lafarge; Enbee, the country’s largest distributor of school uniforms; Croco Motors, Zimbabwe’s largest new vehicles dealer; Drip-Tech which supplies a wide range of equipment to the agricultural sector; Farmec, an established tractor and farm machinery distributor in Zimbabwe; OK Mart; and Tiles for Africa.
Makwabarara added that given the popularity of people buying cars from websites in Japan, the company has also tied up with several Japanese car retailers around the country so that customers have access to second-hand Japanese cars through the online mall.
HT will receive a commission from the partner companies on every sale, according to the agreements between them.
The online shopping mall operates on a ‘buy today, receive tomorrow’ concept. HT will also provide delivery services for the vendors who need it. To make that happen, a fully-fledged logistics company has been set up, equipped with software system and vehicles.
