Kathy Gibson reports – In 2023, the online retail market was worth R71-billion, making up 6,15% of the total R1,1-trillion retail market.
South Africa is currently experiencing massive changes in the online retail space with international players like Amazon and, to a lesser extent, Shein and Temu, entering an established market. The big difference in who is shopping online is in education, Goldstuck says. The biggest group is those with post-matric , dropping to 35,2% for those with Grade 10 to 12, 31,1% for those with Grade 11 and 21,8% for those with lower than Grade 11.
Online shopping attitudes are interesting, says Goldstuck, in that the most common attitude says respondent prefer instore than online experiences, and just 14,5% saying online shopping is more pleasant. Significantly, online retail sites are highly profitable or somewhat profitable . In addition, 18,3% say they are breaking even, 4,1% are making a small loss, and just 1% making a big loss.