HomeChoice to launch site on Oracle Cloud Commerce

HOMECHOICE International has partnered with Oracle to launch a new e-commerce website hosted on Oracle Cloud Commerce (OCC), which it has begun rolling out.

HomeChoice has more than 900 000 customers, predominantly female and active on digital channels, with more that 86 percent of customers registered for digital access in the financial services business and more than 23 percent of retail transactions conducted through cellphones or the web.

The group, which is a provider of retail and financial services products, said the implementation of OCC would help take advantage of best of breed cloud solutions, drive business growth plans and support customers’ needs.

“HomeChoice’s unique customer proposition of bundling products for purchase on credit resulted in challenging implementation requirements and Oracle provided ongoing support with enhancements to the product to suit these distinctive needs,” said Dirk Oberholster, the head of technology at HomeChoice.

Revenue for the six months to June increased 8.6 percent to R1.7 billon and grew active customers 9 percent to 915 000. Gross profit margins fell from 51.9 percent to 47.1 percent.

Retail grew sales 7 percent, financial services increased loan disbursements 34 percent and stand-alone insurance premiums grew by 58 percent. Group profit after tax fell 7.7 percent to R240 million and HomeChoice lowered its interim dividend by 8.4 percent to 87c a share. Credit impairment losses rose by a quarter to R326m.