11 Jan 2022

Comparing prices is one of the daunting task. While many still rely on the retailers newspaper inserts, there are those who move from one shop to the other.

Whew! is it not tedious? Whilst, the outbreak of the COVID-19 disease has posed great challenges to the worldwide economy and people’s daily lives, research experts have predicted that nations will continue to experience far-reaching consequences beyond the spread of the virus.

At the same time, the crisis has also proved to be a strong driver of creativity and innovation especially locally where both young and old have come up with abundant solutions geared at revolutionizing the digital space.

One such individual is Ms Poifo Pioncana, a seasoned project connoisseur in the construction industry, who is the founder of PriceMate, which is a website that attracts consumers searching for cheaper products and services.

Describing Pricemate in more detail, Ms Pioncana expressed that it was a service price comparison website that gives consumers easy access and an opportunity to compare products as well as services across the country for free before they embark on shopping.

Founded in November 2016, she said Pricemate was born out of her love of scourging catalogue leaflets for foodstuff ‘specials’ that were distributed manually every month end. That, she said, motivated her to create an online platform that would make a shopper’s experience easier and faster.

“The journey started off in 2016 by inviting shops to post their specials leaflets on the PriceMate website and has since grown in leaps and bounds, boasting over 100 shops actively utilising the platform, “she explained.

Being one of the first few women in Botswana to acquire a qualification in Project management on Construction Projects, Ms Pioncana spent over a decade in the male dominated industry, leading and managing various projects for both government and the private sector across the country.

Not one to be constrained in one field for long, she dabbled in some consultancy services for a consultancy firm cutting across various industries.

All the while, however, her love for scoring a bargain grew and the idea of having an online catalogue seemed more and more appealing.

“During the start of my career, I used to look forward to laying my hands on several catalogues that were on offer and I would spend hours carefully going through each item advertised with so much glee and hope to save a ‘Pula’! Ms Pioncana then took a leap of faith in 2016 and created PriceMate, with the help of a five graduates who had the same passion for innovation and content creation.

Currently supported by Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH), Ms Pioncana said her aim was to create a unique platform in the Botswana market capitalising on the growth of digital dependency by offering another type of advertising medium for companies and service providers across various markets.

Describing how PriceMate operated, Ms Pioncana said it attracts traffic by uploading and maintaining the website with up to date content from a variety of different stores then avails the latest catalogues and specials consolidated under one platform, product search and filtering and advertising on the website.

Like any business venture, there were some challenges that she had faced regarding PriceMate. She expressed that convincing various merchants to post their catalogues on the website was a major hurdle.

“Since PriceMate offered to host shops’ catalogue free of charge, most of them turned away because they created a misconception that the service had no value; they are used to paying for something that is valuable,” she said. 

Ms Pioncana also said most of the shops head offices were based in South Africa and as a result decision making was a slow process as to whether to engage PriceMate as their online catalogue provider.

With persistence and belief in her website, Pioncana was able to preserve and the website now boasts over 100 shops actively utilising the platform with 70,000 visitors to date.

Ms Pioncana further stated that the advent of COVID-19 had made their service all the more worthwhile as it assisted in reducing the number of people physically going to shops by affording an option of visiting many shops online at a go.

“In five years’ time, we hope to be the platform of choice for shops and advertisers, and the ‘top of the mind’ shopping website for customers in Botswana, she concluded. ENDS