MAILPAC Services, the largest online shopping company in Jamaica, will today launch a virtual retail store, open to the general public. The online platform, DealBug, allows consumers to identify a product on the Internet, request and receive a guaranteed landed price (inclusive of shipping and duties), and pay one price for the item locally, and the item is then delivered to the customer at their home or office within a few days, said Mailpac in a press release.

“With the largest inventory of goods at the lowest prices, the Internet is the world’s greatest retail store. That said, the need for an international credit card and the complexity of the customs process makes it a bit frustrating for some to shop online,” s aid Shannon McClure, Mailpac’s marketing officer.

“DealBug revolutionises online shopping for those consumers by providing the same transparency of a traditional retail store with one local price for any product online,” she explained.

DealBug has been available to existing Mailpac members for the last 10 months. However, the launch of the platform today will open it to the broader consumer public. The launch will take place from 7pm to 12am at the Sunken Gardens in Hope Gardens, St Andrew.

Mailpac over the last few weeks has taken out full-page newspaper advertisements promoting that “The World’s Greatest Store Comes to Jamaica” on November 29, in time for the traditional ‘Black Friday’ shopping day in the US. The company said that the overall goal of the project is to lure more customers towards the online shopping space, as while it accounts for 80 per cent of all online shopping in Jamaica, it services only four per cent of the broad consuming public.

McClure said the Black Friday opening was no coincidence.

“We chose to launch on Black Friday, the largest shopping day in the United States, as all online stores will be offering amazing deals to consumers. DealBug allows all Jamaicans to take full advantage of those and other deals found online”, said McClure.

DealBug offers two basic products. The first is an online retail store that showcases hundreds of products as recommended by the company’s Facebook fans. The second product is an online portal that allows consumers to upload the URL link of a desired product and receive a quote for the item within three hours. This quoted price is called the DealBug ‘landed price’ and includes all related costs including the cost of the product, shipping, duties and local delivery, the company said.

Meanwhile, Scotiabank has teamed up with Mailpac in a ‘Black Friday’ promotion that offers Scotiabank credit cardholders free Mailpac accounts, free landed prices and credits towards online purchases, among other benefits, the bank announced in a press release yesterday.

Featured under Mailpac’s E-Shopper Plus programme, the limited time offer will reward Scotiabank credit card holders with exclusive deals and discounts via the DealBug shopping portal. Though dubbed a Black Friday promotion, the offer is being extended to both existing Scotiabank credit card holders and individuals who sign up as new cardholders by December 17.

“It’s important that we continuously seek ways to bring value to our cardholders. We know Black Friday is a major US discount shopping opportunity before Christmas and that many of our customers shop online to capitalise on the great deals to be had. We therefore thought it would delight our cardholders to receive even more rewards by partnering with Mailpac to get their items safely home in time for Christmas,” explained Monique Todd, vice-president of marketing, public and corporate affairs at Scotiabank.