CapeTalk drive host John Maytham may still be resisting the online shopping revolution, but the rest of South Africa appears to be clicking ”add to cart’ without him.
“I am not yet a participant,” he admitted on Wednesday’s show, “but the annual Worldwide Works survey of the sector once again reveals very significant growth.”
As the country marks its 30th year of online retail, South Africa is expected to spend approximately R159 billion through online channels in 2026, around 10% of the country’s total retail turnover.
The study by World Wide Worx, in partnership with Mastercard, Peach Payments and Ask Africa also predicts e-commerce will grow by 22.5% this year.
Speaking to CapeTalk, Worldwide Worx CEO Arthur Goldstuck said the country’s online retail market had grown sharply, with about 56% of online shopping now being done on mobile phones.
“As the apps get better, as they work better, but also as the fulfilment improves, it gives people more confidence.”
Goldstuck said more and more shoppers with good experiences online were shifting their spending away from physical stores.
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Clothing remains the biggest online shopping category, with research showing 36% of adult South Africans bought clothes online, compared with about 21% who bought groceries.
That came as something of a surprise to Maytham, who admitted he would feel more comfortable buying a fridge online than clothing.
“Coming from John Maytham, that’s a startling statement,” joked Goldstuck.
But while clothing is the most popular online shopping category, groceries are also behind some of the fastest growth in online buying.
Takealot is currently the country’s largest online retailer, followed by Checkers Sixty60.
“If you think Sixty60 wasn’t around six years ago… then you can tell that groceries are driving growth and will continue driving growth.”
Goldstuck said online retail could eventually account for between 25% and 35% of total retail spending in the country but added that one of the biggest challenges remained convincing more people to use digital payment systems and move away from cash.
“The big challenges are convincing people to embrace payment systems online and move away from cash. We’re talking now in terms of… let’s call them the digitally challenged who don’t yet shop online.”
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