Internet Shopping A
Growth Industry In Costa Rica
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Internet
Shopping A Growth Industry In Costa Rica
The internet is the big shopping centre of
today, in compared to 5 years back, as Ticos
use the internet more and more to shop for
everything from renting movies to sending
flowers, according to a report by the daily,
La Nacion.
Since 2005 a number of Costa Rican shopping
websites have been sprouting on the
internet.
Cinexpress.cc is one of those websites that
has gone from renting 5 movies a day iin
2005 to 100 currently. Another internet
success story is by Rafael Azofeifa, manager
of Novak systems, who in 2000 opened an
online florist called galadia.com.
Azofeifa says that in the beginning they
sent out 2 arrangements a week, now the
number is about 60, mainly to the Gran Area
Metropolitana (San Jose).
The La Nacion says that although there
exists no official numbers, there are an
estimated 12 internet shopping sites
catering to Costa Ricans, which provide
services to an average of 200 customers a
day.
Of course, these sites, like the one offered
be Aerocasillas, offers shopping to more
than 35.000 sites and tens of thousands of
products.
Aerocasillas has set up, in addition to its
online store, a desk at its mail counters to
help its customers make purchases on line.
Johanna Cabourel, marketing manager at
Aerocasillas, says that it now has some
20.000 customers, a huge increase from five
years ago. Cabourel said that they are
signing up some new 800 customers a month
and that the growth of packages received is
about 40% a year.
Costa Ricans can purchase online fruits and
vegetable as well. Verdifruts.com offers
those who cannot go to the weekly "feria" to
buy they fresh fruits and vegetables an
option to make their purchases and have it
delivered.
The upscale supermarket, Automercado, offers
convenience for its customers to shop online
and have their groceries delivered.
Automercado.com was established in 2002 and
according to Gustavo Troyo, marketing
manager at Automercado, they serve on
average 300 customers a month.
The automercado option is convenient for
customers who live in remote areas, as
automercado.com delivers to all parts of the
country.
Setting up an online store is not as
complicated as it used to be. With an
investment of less than $2.000, which
includes the registration of a domain, the
website design, setting up the shopping card
and hosting. Maintenance of the shopping
site can run about $100 a month.
One of the main reasons Costa Ricans go
online is price and availability. Access to
amazon.com and having their purchases
delivered to Costa Rica without much hassle
and cost opens up a world of products and
prices not available at the local shopping
centre.
For example, a Nokia E71 cellular phone can
run you at the local cellular store about
$800. The same item can be purchased on eBay
for about $350 and when you add the cost of
shipping, sales and import tax, the cost
will be about $500 and can be in the
customers hands, in Costa Rica, in less than
a week.
For those considering setting up an online
store or making online purchases, the advice
is to have patience.
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