Online retailing in South Africa is at an early stage

Absrtact: Since 2009, South Africa's E-commerce market has maintained a growth rate of 30%. In the face of the booming online market, South Africa's major retailers have been testing water e-commerce, or to do domestic electrical business, or to engage in foreign trade. Hugo NET from foreign media destiny Connec

Since 2009, the South African E-commerce market has maintained a growth rate of 30%. In the face of the booming online market, South Africa's major retailers have been testing water e-commerce, or to do domestic electrical business, or to engage in foreign trade.

Hugo Net from the foreign media "Destiny Connect" July 22 reported that the South African market online shopping is still in the initial stage, but local retailers are rapidly expanding customer base and improve operating profits. According to the Online Marketing Research Institute Columinate to the local 25 sites to conduct a shopping experience measurement survey, the top five online retailers are: kalahari.com, Yuppiechef, Woolworths, Takealot.com and Groupon.

Henk Pretorius, chief executive of the columinate agency, says traditional offline retailers like Woolworths, Pick n Pay and Mr price, There are different dynamics than kalahari.com and Yuppiechef online retailers. "The challenge for online retailers is that because of the lack of existing and online physical store experiences, consumers do not have enough trust in them and often have doubts about security before shopping." The advantage of the traditional offline retailer is that consumers give them a high degree of trust, so a large number of consumers will emerge from their websites, but the actual experience of the site often disappoints them. ”

This is mainly because, compared to online retailers, many sites do not provide as many kinds of payment methods, while traditional offline retailer architecture of the site is not easy to use. However, retailers such as Woolworths have actually demonstrated the ability of traditional retailers to successfully narrow the gap.

To boost consumer online shopping experience, retailers are moving toward mobile-side shopping and social platforms, Pretorius said. "There is a low penetration rate for mobile applications at the moment, and although Kalahari has a mobile app, not many people know and use it," he said. In this regard, retailers still have great opportunities and room for development. "In addition, combining social platforms with online shopping is another big trend." Just as ebay has a website "Help Me Shop", when you browse any shopping site, you can add items of interest to the site, and then you can post to Facebook, invite your friends to vote for you to buy this product. "It promotes a combination of shopping and social platforms, and I think South African retailers can do more in this area." ”