SA companies should spend more time on m-commerce

Mr Price's catalogue consists of 18 000 items, and online shoppers can choose by size, colour, brand and even trend, with a range of delivery options. E-commerce reward and loyalty programmes are also growing fast, such as that of FNB's eBucks initiative, which sees joint-offerings with partner sites, such as that of YuppieChef, the online kitchen store, as well as Zando.

However, according the Boston Consulting Group, a report published earlier this year shows that SA's e-commerce offering was growing at a surprisingly slower rate (12.6%) than the average for developing nations (17.8%). The report predicts that online purchasing would account for 1.5% of all retail shopping in South Africa by 2016.

South Africa is ready for technologically-advanced e-commerce offerings. However, low broadband access and a lack of affordable devices to access the internet has contributed to low online retail statistics. Where South African retailers should be, in addition to e-commerce, is the mobile space (also known as m-commerce). About 42.3 million mobile phones have been recorded in South Africa, with more than 59 million active SIM cards.

As South Africa's broadband capabilities grows, so too will businesses interests in making use of e-commerce and m-commerce. Companies, cannot, and should not, ignore the growing opportunity in these spaces.