Have your say in the Online Retail in SA 2018 survey

The Online Retail in SA 2018 survey is set to deliver insights on local digital shopping and shoppers. The study is endorsed by the E-Commerce Forum Africa and includes an industry study of retailers, demographic data on consumers, as well as an overview of trends in global online retail and payment technologies. World Wide Worx collaborated with pan-African research house Ask Afrika in the collection of demographic data.

“Online retail reached 1% of overall retail during 2016, the last time we conducted this survey,” says Arthur Goldstuck, World Wide Worx MD.

“At the time, retail was growing well, achieving a growth rate of above 20% a year. SA online shopping has grown consistently, at around this rate, since the turn of the century, initially off a very low base. By 2016 total online retail had reached just over R9bn, in comparison to total retail which grew to just below R900bn,” he says.

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Increasing consolidation

Goldstuck points out that, since the last survey, at least 50% of the online retailers surveyed had consolidated or had gone out of business. “It is a tough market, but a growing one. The recession, of course, will bring new challenges to online retailers.”

Most recently, Naspers merged Spree.co.za and Superbalist.com. The consolidation sees Media24 own 51% of the business, while the Takealot Group – the owners of Superbalist – will own 49% of the new, joint venture. Takealot will have management control of the new entity which will be branded Superbalist.com.

“We’ll see a lot more of this kind of consolidation and a concentration of talent around the bigger online retailers,” Goldstuck says. “However, early indications from our new research is that numerous specialist and online niche shops are emerging. We want to track that growth closely, so are calling on all online retailers to participate in our survey.”

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Online retailers’ participation

“It is really important that local online retailers participate because this will offer deep insights and learnings that can help grow the sector. This will create deeper understanding of the industry. Every retailer that participates will get a summary of the research with actionable insights that they can use to improve their business.”

Online retailers wanting to participate have until Wednesday, 3 October 2018 to fill out the survey questionnaire. All participants will receive a free copy of the executive summary of the report. Participants will also be given advance notice of the public results presentations to be held in collaboration with Heavy Chef in Johannesburg on 31 October 2018, and in Cape Town on 1 November 2018.

South African online retailers can take the survey by going to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/OnlineRetailSA.