Takealot: A Blueprint for eCommerce Success in Africa

We’ve had a longstanding obsession with eCommerce within the region so when a report is published detailing the online retailing landscape in South Africa - our ears perk up! One of the interesting markers from this publication showed the evolving market share in South Africa’s online retailing space.

Takealot remains the long standing market leader in online retail in South Africa with a market share of 20.9%. We thought it would be interesting to look at what being the dominant player in the most mature eCommerce market in Africa translates to on the balance sheet along with some of the moves taken to reach this dominant point.

The opportunity at hand…

An important point to keep in mind in the context of South Africa (and the rest of the continent) is that online retailing is in its infancy. In 2019, Euromonitor noted that online retailing penetration in South Africa was at a paltry 1.8%. Five years on that number has crawled up to 4.8%.

This context is important to keep in mind because many of the players fighting for online retailing market share are doing it with one eye on future growth. The opportunity is stark as the global average penetration of online retail stands at 19.4% (4x what we are seeing from South Africa - the best case example on the continent). South Africa’s online retailing market is reportedly valued at R71bn, meaning there is still a pie large enough for retailers to be focusing on online retail in the here and now.