According to a report, the first, unsuccessful version is to be taken offline.
Minister Schramböck and WKO boss Mahrer at the presentation
Presented only a few months ago, the platform “Kaufhaus Österreich”, which was showered with criticism and malice from the start, is no longer to be continued in this form. The financial magazine “Der Börsianer” claims to have found out from informed circles. The reason is that the Federal Ministry for Digitization and Business Location is not allowed to operate a commercial marketplace and the Chamber of Commerce has already rejected it. A confirmation from the ministry was still pending on Monday evening. The Chamber of Commerce (WKO) referred to the Ministry on KURIER's request.
Much malice
Actually launched by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Chamber of Commerce at the end of November to make web shops of Austrian retailers easier to find, the reactions among users and retailers were devastating. Because the search for specific products produced completely useless results. But even the search for categories and stores quickly turned out to be ineffective.
In addition to the lack of functionality, there was also public criticism that the platform cost 627,000 euros. In view of the poor implementation, the costs caused head shaking. In any case, nothing has been noticed on the website so far from the improved search that was announced by the ministry.
Ministry as operator
According to Börsianer , the department store Austria should be run as a purely digital company directory. The Ministry has not yet commented publicly on this. The fact is that the ministry is responsible for running the website. He also owns the domain. In addition, the Ministry is managed as the media owner of the platform alongside the Chamber of Commerce. Before Christmas, WKO President Harald Mahrer also brought up the possibility of a “challenge” for start-ups to improve the portal. But no one has heard of it since.
