eCommerce market in South Africa

South Africa is the 46th largest market for eCommerce with a predicted revenue of US$4,634.5 million by 2024, placing it ahead of Ukraine. Revenue is expected to show a compound annual growth rate (CAGR 2024-2028) of 18.9%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$9,274.5 million by 2028. With an expected increase of 20.7% in 2024, the South African eCommerce market contributed to the worldwide growth rate of 7.4% in 2024. Like in South Africa, global eCommerce sales are expected to increase over the next years. Seven markets are considered by ECDB within the South African eCommerce market. Electronics is the largest market and accounts for 26.0% of the South African eCommerce revenue. It is followed by Fashion with 20.7%, Hobby & Leisure with 19.5%, Furniture & Homeware with 11.6%, Care Products with 7.9%, Grocery with 7.5%, and DIY with the remaining 6.9%.

The online share refers to the proportion of the retail volume that is transacted via the Internet. It includes purchases via desktop PC, tablet or smartphone, both via website or app. Only retail of physical goods is taken into account. In the South African retail market, the online share is 7.5% and will increase by an average of 5.1% to 9.2% by 2028.

The biggest player in the South African eCommerce market is takealot.com. The store had a revenue of US$349.8 million in 2023. Store rankings include every store that generates revenue in South Africa. These stores can either have a national focus and only sell in their main country or operate on a global scale. For this evaluation, only revenue created in South Africa was considered.

The South African eCommerce market in 2023 in terms of offered payment methods is fragmented and dominated by a few providers with VISA (Cards) covering the largest share with 90.7% of all online stores checked. Other offered payment methods in the South African eCommerce market in 2023 are Mastercard (Cards) with 90.7%, Bank transfer/cash in advance (Bank transfer) with 55.0%, and Mobicred (Installment) with 39.3%. With 30.7% Ozow (E-wallets) has already a significantly smaller coverage compared to VISA (Cards).