includes South Africa’s biggest e-commerce retailer Takealot.com, is pushing further into townships and growing its new grocery partnership to defend its market share.will launch locally in the coming yearTakealot CEO Mamongae Mahlare said the group’s delivery network and local appeal would ensure it competed. “Our confidence lies in South Africans, lies in us as a homegrown South African business,” she said in an interview.
“What we’ve been doing is making sure that we’re expanding our footprint so that whether you’re living in Lusikisiki or you’re living in Thembisa or uMlazi, you’re able to get delivery from Takealot.com or Superbalist,” she said. E-commerce’s share of South Africa’s total retail sales more than tripled to around 5% from 2019 to 2021, according to Euromonitor International, but it lags behind many developing nations.
Without giving any investment figures, Mahlare said Takealot was investing to increase the penetration and take-up of its businesses, including on-demand food delivery Mr D Food and fashion online retailer Superbalist.“Even with our Mr D business, we’ve expanded into townships, which were areas where we had previously had a target to grow into and so we’re progressing on that march,” she said.