Slash finds silver lining in Covid cloud

Rapid advances in digital automation technologies have led to new developments in several industries, retail being one that found a silver lining in the COVID-19 cloud. Amidst the lockdowns, a local retail technology company, Slash Deals was launched.

The company provides a 24-hour panel where retail stores can publish promotions at any time, view and track the performance of their deals and offers, whilst improving targeted promotions and data on the user’s needs through a comparison app. The app, Slash, is available on both Android and iOS, and one can also visit the website at https://www. slash.co.bw.

The platform has a search feature that allows the user to search for the store or deals they need.

Slash Deals marketing manager, Itseng Mathumo told MonitorBusiness

their services are free to anyone who wants to save money by comparing deals in the preferred area.

“We believe by providing a solution to consumers, our platform can revolutionise shopping in Botswana. Traditionally, someone would move from store to store to locate the best deals. We are providing a service that assists in the

search for the best deals, comparing those deals and identifying which store the deals are available at,” he said.

According to Mathumo, the reception has been warm noting that they have seen reviews from their users on the impact the platform has had in their lives and for retail stores. Currently, the company services retailers in different categories from groceries and household, meat and fish, fruits and vegetables, liquor, to mention but a few.

The company has managed to bring on board some of Botswana’s well-known brands and stores such as Pick n’ Pay, HiFi Corp, Square Mart, Choppies, Trans Group, Fours, Liquorama and Builder’s Mart.

The company has plans to be the number one pan-African retail technology outfit and be a brand that Botswana and Batswana can proudly call their own. “We don’t have competitors but what we are seeing is a rapid transition from traditional media to digital media within the retail tech space from each retail store,” he explained.

Mathumo added the company faces financial challenges that affect efforts to improve and expand its offerings.

“The other would be that mobile data costs in our country are high. Some users are on social media packages already and can’t afford to pay for more data bundles to use on the apps or website services,” he said.