Did Naspers shut its e-commerce sites down?

Four of Naspers’ eCommerce websites – SAcamera, 5rooms, Kinderelo and Style36 – were taken down on Thursday 20 February 2014.

At time of publishing, the websites carry a maintenance message stating that they will “be back soon” – but according to industry speculation, Naspers may have pulled the plug on the ventures.

MyBroadband has received information that staff members involved with the websites were informed about potential retrenchments last week.

The four sites, Naspers, and MIH could not immediately comment on the issue.

When contacted by phone numbers provided, only Kinderelo answered the phone.

According to a helpdesk agent, employees have not been informed about a future decision on the website.

Remo Giovanni Abbondandolo from Africa Internet Accelerator – the company behind Style36, 5Rooms and Kinderelo – said that the company cannot comment on whether the websites have been shut down.

At this stage, Abbondandolo said, the websites are currently down for maintenance and he could not say whether the websites will come back up and open for business again.

This article first appeared on MyBroadband.

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