RS South Africa, a trading brand of RS Group plc (LSE: RS1), a global provider of product and service solutions, is showcasing the significant updates to its Africa Export Solutions website that came into effect last year.
The updates have enhanced customer convenience by enabling purchases in various currencies, explains Sales Director Erick Wessels. “Essentially our ecommerce platform now allows clients to transact in a range of popular currencies.” This can be done easily by means of a simple dropdown menu.
“We initially only had U.S. dollars as it was the main forex reserve currency in Southern Africa,” explains Wessels. However, customer feedback from various key corporates indicated a preference to be able to transact in different currencies such as euros and pounds.
“We then decided to introduce this added functionality online as our offline SAP system has historically allowed customers to trade in any currencies. It meant it was not difficult to integrate and certainly did not require any major overhaul of our website, which is highly user-friendly and simple to navigate,” adds Wessels.
Many British businesses set up operations in lucrative African markets like Kenya and remit to their home office in the UK in pounds, so it made sense for RS to facilitate that process and assist such customers specifically.
“It was mainly a question of enhancing our customer experience and responding to feedback, especially in the face of a dynamic and ever-shifting online trading environment, where responsiveness, user-friendliness and flexibility are key,” highlights Wessels.
This, in turn, also allows such companies to trade with each other in the currency of their respective head offices, especially in Germany and France, where many of RS’s major suppliers are headquartered. “By differentiating our currency base on our ecommerce platform, we are able to accommodate these customers directly and thereby grow our market share and customer loyalty throughout the region,” says Wessels.
The Institute of Export & International Trade, comparing RS Export Solutions with an average exporter, has established that it can cut costs by 20% and increase processing efficiencies by 15%. “This reiterates that we are experts at export,” adds Wessels.
RS has the expertise to ensure the prompt delivery of trusted brands across the globe. Using direct export or via its third-party distributor network, RS can meet diverse customer requirements with a complete end-to-end solution or support with advice and paperwork, transforming processing times and guaranteeing compliancy.
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Simon Walker: Director General – Institute of Directors: As the public face of the Institute of Directors, and the most senior representative of the membership, Simon Walker engages with senior figures from across government, politics and Whitehall, and debates regularly in the media.Previously Walker has worked in senior communications roles at Reuters and for HM the Queen. Before being appointed Director General, Walker served as Chief Executive of the BVCA, an organisation that represents British private equity and venture capital.In 2015, GQ magazine listed Walker among the 100 best connected men in the country.