ecommerceDB Country Reports

eCommerce in South Africa 2020

With data
on the top
100 stores
December 2020
ecommerceDB Country Report
Report overview

The ecommerceDB Country Report ”eCommerce in South Africa 2020”

provides a comprehensive overview of the state of the South African
eCommerce market regarding consumers, markets, and its top 100
online stores in 2019. In addition, it also reflects the strong surge in
growth eCommerce has experienced this year due to the COVID-19
pandemic. The analysis in this report is based on exclusive data from
ecommerceDB.com, the Statista Digital Market Outlook, and the Statista
Global Consumer Survey. It depicts significant data about

Stefanie Eden Anna-Lena Hoyer

the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the eCommerce Team Lead ecommerceDB Reports
Director ecommerceDB
landscape, offering data on changes in consumer behavior
and adjustments to revenue forecasts

online shoppers in South Africa, providing detailed insights

about their shopping interests, attitudes, and shopping
patterns

the South African eCommerce market, including revenue

developments and forecasts, insights into market David Niemeier Lukas Peters
concentration, and extensive KPI analyses Junior Analyst Junior Analyst

the competitive landscape in the South African We hope our report proves to be useful and informative for you.
eCommerce market with key facts about the top players,
category analyses, and a full list of the South African top
100 stores

2
Content

01 Introduction 04 The South African eCommerce market

▪ Facts about South African eCommerce ▪ Market size
▪ Country snapshot: South Africa ▪ Market structure
▪ KPI analysis

02 COVID-19 impact on eCommerce 05 South African stores: top 100 analysis

▪ Shopping behavior shifts ▪ South African top stores
▪ Market impact ▪ Category insights
▪ Case studies ▪ Top 100 ranking

03 Consumers in South Africa 06 Appendix

▪ Online shopper characteristics
▪ Online behavior
▪ Online shopping

3
 Introduction
This chapter summarizes the key findings of this report and
provides general information about the country.

▪ Facts about South African eCommerce

▪ Country snapshot: South Africa

4
Facts about South African eCommerce: key findings

22 million 37% 64%

Consumers eCommerce users in eCommerce research on the internet
2020 penetration before a purchase

US$3bn 13% Fashion

Market

Net sales in South CAGR Biggest category based

African eCommerce in South African net on South African net
2019 sales sales
2019-2024

15%
Top 5 South African online Average YoY growth
Stores stores by net sales rate 2020 top 250
stores

5 Sources: Statista Digital Market Outlook 2020, Statista Global Consumer Survey 2020, ecommerceDB.com as of November 2020
Country snapshot: South Africa

Key facts 2020: South Africa

Capital Bloemfontein

Population 58.6m
Population, aged 15–64 years 38.4m
Households 16.8m
Urban population share 66%
Total current GDP1 US$351.4bn
Current GDP1 per capita US$6,511
Consumer spending1 per capita US$3,922
Internet penetration 56%
Smartphone penetration 52.8%
Broadband subscriptions2 2
Average connection speed 13.5 Mbits/s
Social media penetration 36.7%

1: Current prices 2: Per 100 people

6 Sources: Statista, 2020, based on the IMF, World Bank, UN, Eurostat, national statistical offices, and the ITU
 COVID-19 impact on
eCommerce
This chapter shows the influence of COVID-19 on global
online traffic and the change in shopping behavior. It
outlines the developments of sales and growth rates in
eCommerce in times of the pandemic and illustrates them
with interesting examples based on selected companies.

▪ Shopping behavior shifts

▪ Market impact
▪ Case studies

7
Consumer online interests shifted during COVID-19
and pushed web traffic to supermarkets
Shopping behavior shifts: traffic shifts

COVID-19 impact on global online traffic: November 20201 March 20202

Supermarkets 35% +161%

Sports equipment 24% -15%

Retail tech 7% +15%

Cosmetics 4% -20%

Telecom 2% +32

Banks/insurance 2% -3%

Home furnishings/DIY -3% -21%

Luxury items -3% -32%

Jewelry & watches -8% -34%

Fashion -10% -27%

Media -13% +80%

Tourism -44% -57%

1: Worldwide; week ending November 13, 2020 compared to reference (Jan 6 to Feb 16); 1,400 sites; 4.8b sessions, and 7 billion visits across
the world 2: Worldwide; week ending March 16, 2020 compared to reference (Jan 6 to Feb 16); 1,400 sites; 4.8b sessions, and 7 billion visits
across the world
8 Sources: ContentSquare as of November 9, 2020, Statista
 Consumers in South
Africa
This chapter describes the specifics of online shoppers in
South Africa and provides detailed insights about their
shopping interests, attitudes, and shopping patterns. It
includes comparisons with the U.S., the second biggest
eCommerce market worldwide.

▪ Online shopper characteristics

▪ Online behavior
▪ Online shopping

16
The online shopper in South Africa
Key findings

Criteria Assessment of the online shopper in South Africa

▪ The number of eCommerce users is expected to grow by 44% to 32 million users in South Africa by 2024
Customer potential ▪ 37% of the population in South Africa shops online

▪ Online shoppers in South Africa are most price-oriented about Clothing

Attention to low-
priced products ▪ The relevance of low-priced products for online shoppers in South Africa and the U.S. is comparable across most
of the categories

▪ Online shoppers in South Africa pay most attention to luxury products in the category Smartphone
Attention to luxury/
premium products ▪ In the category Shoes, the difference between South Africa and the U.S. is the largest: In South Africa, 56% of
online shoppers, compared to 32% in the U.S., pay attention to premium products

▪ Smartphones are the most frequently used devices for online shopping in South Africa
Share of mobile
shopping ▪ In the U.S., smartphones are the most used devices as well

▪ In South Africa, Clothing and Shoes have the highest return rates
Return rates ▪ Especially in the category Clothing, return rates in South Africa are much lower than in the U.S.

17
 The South African
eCommerce market
This chapter contains an in-depth analysis of the South
African eCommerce market and draws international
comparisons. It shows revenue developments and forecasts,
insights into market concentration and sales channels, and
extensive KPI analyses, e.g. payment and shipping methods.

▪ Market size
▪ Market structure
▪ KPI analysis

31
The South African eCommerce market
Key findings

Criteria Assessment of the South African eCommerce market

Growth ▪ The South African eCommerce market is growing by 13% p.a. on average (2019-2024)
potential ▪ In absolute numbers, the South African eCommerce market will reach US$6 billion in 2024

Market ▪ The top 5 stores account for 43% of the top 100 net sales in South Africa in 2019
concentration ▪ The market volume of the top 5 South African stores has inceased by 37% since 2017

▪ Electronics & Media has the highest online share among all South African categories
Online share of
▪ An international comparison of online shares shows that there is the potential for a higher online penetration in
total retail sales
all South African categories

Share of online ▪ In terms of sales, 39% of the top 100 South African stores are pure players
pure players ▪ In China, the share of pure players is higher in terms of numbers (62%) and in terms of sales (72%)

32
 South African stores:
top 100 analysis
This chapter gives an overview of the player landscape in the
South African eCommerce market: It includes key facts, the
top players, profound category analyses, and a full list of the
South African top 100.

▪ South African top stores

▪ Category insights
▪ Top 100 ranking

49
South African stores: top 100 analysis
Key findings

Criteria Assessment of the South African top 100 online stores

South African top ▪ Takealot.com heads the list of top 10 South African stores
stores ▪ On average, South African top stores achieved a year-over-year growth of 15% in 2020

▪ 49% of online stores in South Africa among the top 100 are active in Fashion
Top stores in Fashion
▪ Mytfgworld.com leads in terms of growth, while takealot.com is the largest player

Top stores in ▪ 36% of online stores in South Africa among the top 100 are active in Electronics & Media
Electronics & Media ▪ Mytfgworld.com leads in terms of growth, while takealot.com is the largest player

Top stores in Toys, ▪ 54% of online stores in South Africa among the top 100 are active in Toys, Hobby & DIY
Hobby & DIY ▪ Mytfgworld.com leads in terms of growth, while takealot.com is the largest player

Top stores in Fur- ▪ 33% of online stores in South Africa among the top 100 are active in Furniture & Appliances
niture & Appliances ▪ Mytfgworld.com leads in terms of growth, while takealot.com is the largest player

Top stores in Food & ▪ 17% of online stores in South Africa among the top 100 are active in Food & Personal Care
Personal Care ▪ Foschiniforbeauty.co.za leads in terms of growth, while clicks.co.za is the largest player

50
 Appendix

72
Category definitions
Fashion
The category “Fashion”
covers the online trade of
articles of clothing (for
men, women, and children),
shoes and shoe care
products (e.g., cleaning
products), as well as of
accessories and bags (e.g.,
hats, scarves, gloves and
leather bags, suitcases,
purses and briefcases).
Subcategories:
▪ Apparel
▪ Bags & Accessories
▪ Footwear
73
Electronics &
Media
The category “Electronics &
Media” covers the online
sale of physical media (e.g.,
books, DVDs, Blu-ray discs,
computer games),
consumer electronics (e.g.,
TVs, DVD players), and
communication devices
(e.g., desktop computers,
laptops, smart-phones).
Subcategories:
▪ Consumer Electronics
▪ Books, Movies, Music &
Games
Toys,
Hobby
& DIY
The category “Toys, Hobby
& DIY ” covers the online
trade of toys, babyware
(including baby food and
clothing), sports, outdoor,
DIY, and garden products
(e.g., sports & outdoor
equipment, flowers, tools,
DIY products), as well as of
hobby & stationery articles
(e.g., art/collectors’ items,
car parts).
Subcategories:
▪ DIY, Garden & Pets
▪ Toys & Baby
▪ Hobby & Stationery
▪ Sports & Outdoor
Furniture &
Appliances
The category “Furniture &
Appliances” covers the
online sale of furniture,
kitchens and household
goods (e.g., kitchen & bath-
room accessories and
home textiles), as well as of
electronic household
appliances (e.g., washing
machines and coffee
machines) for the private
end user.
Subcategories:
▪ Furniture & Homeware
▪ Household Appliances
Food &
Personal
Care
The category “Food & Perso-
nal Care” covers the online
trade of food and beverages
(excluding baby food) as well
as of medicine, cosmetics, and
pharmaceutical and personal
care products (including pre-
scription drugs for the private
end user). It also includes
medical products for private
use (e.g., blood pressure
monitors).
Subcategories:
▪ Food & Beverages
▪ Personal Care
Definition of revenues and net sales
Definition of revenues in the eCommerce market
In-scope:
▪ Sale of physical goods to a private end user (B2C) via a digital channel
▪ Purchases via desktop computers (including notebooks) and
purchases via mobile devices (e.g., smartphones)
▪ All monetary figures refer to the annual gross revenue
Out-of-scope:
▪ Digital media (e.g., music downloads or eBooks)
▪ Digitally distributed services (e.g., plane tickets)
▪ Digitally distributed goods in business-to-business (B2B) markets
▪ Digital purchase or resale of used, defective, or repaired goods
(reCommerce)
▪ All monetary figures do not factor in shipping costs
74
Definition of online stores’ net sales
▪ eCommerce net sales are defined as the amount of first-party sales
generated by a specific online store on domain level (i.e.,
amazon.com and amazon.de remain separate) after the deduction of
returns, allowances for damaged or missing goods, and any discounts
allowed
▪ If an online shopping website also offers a marketplace shop on a site
like eBay or Amazon, the resulting revenue is included in the store's
eCommerce net sales
▪ If there are any business-to-business (B2B) revenues generated by a
given online store, these will also be included
▪ Only online stores with a focus on private end users (B2C) will be
considered for our database and in this report, i.e., stores with a B2B
share of less than 50%
▪ In this study, only eCommerce net sales generated in the respective
country are taken into account. If a website also ships to other
countries, sales generated with these shipments are not considered
in this figure
Online store revenue modeling is based on diverse
data types and expert analysis
Modeling approach eCommerce net sales

Different approaches depending on data availability Underlying data sources

1) Historical ecommerce net sales development
Survey among online Quantitative and
When approximating past revenue trends, the modeling approach depends on which stores financial data from public
types of data are available. Our ecommerceDB experts conduct research about sources:
▪ eCommerce net sales
companies based on existing information, i.e., data from a survey among thousands of
▪ Annual reports and
online stores, annual reports, and secondary sources. This information is supplemented ▪ Company information financial statements
by other store-specific drivers, such as traffic information, offered product range, price
level, and shipping information. Depending on data availability, we use two different ▪ Product range and ▪ Press releases
approaches: shipping information
▪ Secondary sources
↑ Top-down: Finding information about the eCommerce turnover of a company or ▪ Contact information
business unit and enhancing it with further store-specific data enables our analysts
to determine the revenue for the company’s online store.

↑ Bottom-up: If there is no information on the company’s (eCommerce) revenue, we Store-specific data Studies & third-party
use an algorithm-based approach using store-specific KPIs such as traffic, product data
range, price level, and average conversion rates to approximate the online store’s ▪ Traffic information,
revenue. The algorithm is based on the correlations between success factors and visits in total and by ▪ The Statista Digital
revenue derived from the top-down approach acquisition of primary data. region Market & Consumer
Outlook
2) Forecast ▪ Offered product
range ▪ International
Forecasting the online store’s revenue for the running calendar year and the organizations and
following years takes multiple information factors into account. Our experts ▪ Price level information associations such as
evaluate the store’s historical revenue development, traffic trends, general market IMF, World Bank, and
▪ Shipping information
forecasts, and individual store information. OECD

75 Source: ecommercedb.com 2020

Forecasting eCommerce net sales during COVID-19 by
considering historical and future indicators
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on net sales modeling

Input data influenced by COVID-19 wayfair.com net sales development in mUSD

1: wayfair.com’s net sales 2: Traffic and conversion

development development (index1)
+15%
Adjusted net
sales according to +18% 8,425
the impact of
COVID-19 on the 7,326
+33%
input data
Q1 Influenced by Q1 6,211
COVID-19 +40%
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
+35% 4,657
3: Store’s individual statements 4: Statista Digital Market Outlook +57%
(examples) Furniture & Appliances market 3,334
development in the U.S.2
▪ announced financial investments in 2,476
the online business
1,582
▪ recently established new shop
system

▪ new eCommerce warehouse

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

1: SimilarWeb, Alexa 2: Statista Digital Market Outlook 2020

76 Source: ecommercedb.com 2020
About ecommerceDB
The toolbox for all eCommerce-relevant questions

ecommerceDB.com offers direct access to URL-related revenue

information together with forecasts, customizable top, country,
region, and category rankings, KPI analyses, and extensive
eCommerce-relevant contact information to over 20,000 online
stores.

In-depth analysis for over 20,000 online store URLs

Adjustable top, category, country, & region

rankings

Download shop profiles for seamless processing

CONTACT US
TEL +49 40 68 89 31-251
Direct contact to our eCommerce analysts
E-MAIL sina.pohlmann@statista.com

! Find out more on ecommercedb.com

About the Statista Digital Market Outlook

90+ 150+ 8 30,000+

markets regions years (2017-2025) interactive statistics

The Digital Market Outlook presents up-to-date figures on markets in the

digital economy. The comparable key figures are based on extensive analyses
of relevant indicators from the areas of society, economy, and technology.
What is the size of the eCommerce fashion market in Spain?
How many connected cars are already on the road in China?

The answers to these and many more questions can be found in Statista's
Digital Market Outlook. It provides forecasts, detailed market insights, and key
indicators for the digital economy.

Seven digital verticals: eCommerce, Smart Home, Digital Media,

eServices, FinTech, Digital Advertising, eHealth

Direct access & downloads, fully integrated into the Statista database

Market insights, forecasts and key performance indicators

Outlook reports with segment-specific topics (top companies, trends,

deep dives)

Find out more on www.statista.com/outlook/digital-markets

About the Statista Global Consumer Survey

50+ 55 6,500+ 700,000+

topics & industries countries int. brands consumers
Marketing & Finance & insurance
The Statista Global Consumer Survey offers a global perspective
on consumption and media usage, covering the offline and online social media
world of the consumer. It is designed to help marketers, planners
and product managers understand consumer behavior and
consumer interactions with brands. eCommerce & Health
▪ Cross-tabulation retail

▪ Customized target groups

Food & nutrition Housing & household
▪ Trend and country comparisons equipment
▪ Export in Excel (CSV) or PowerPoint format

Internet & devices Travel

Media & digital media Services & eServices

Mobility Characteristics &

demographics

Find out more on www.statista.com/customercloud/global-consumer-survey

Authors
Stefanie Eden
Director eCommerceDB
Stefanie is in charge of the
exclusive ecommerceDB.com
expert tool. She holds a diploma
in Economics and a bachelor’s
degree in Communication.
She is an eCommerce expert
and has gained deep knowledge
of innovative business models
and their effects on the
economy through numerous re-
search and consulting projects.
Before joining Statista, she
worked as an advertising
consultant for several national
and international clients.
Questions? Please write us an email to reports@ecommerceDB.com
www.ecommercedb.com
Anna-Lena Hoyer
Teamlead ecommerceDB Reports
Anna-Lena studied Business
Administration at the University
of Cologne and at ESADE,
Barcelona.
She joined Statista as a Project
Manager in the Research &
Analysis department in 2014
and is now in charge of the
reports that are provided by
ecommerceDB.com.
Previously, she worked as a
consultant with the Boston
Consulting Group, attending to
several national and inter-
national clients.
David Niemeier
Junior Analyst
David holds a Bachelor's degree
in Business Administration and
completed his Master's degree
in Marketing & Sales in Hamburg.
a a
He joined Statista as a Junior
Analyst in 2020 and has been
working intensively on the
design of news articles, the
weekly newsletter and new
relevant reports provided by
ecommerceDB.com.
Before joining Statista, he gained
ecommerce relevant experience
through various projects at the
Otto Group and Daimler AG.
Lukas Peters
Junior Analyst
Lukas studied Economics at the
University of Kiel and Business
Administration at the University
of Hamburg.
He started working as a Junior
Analyst for eCommerce markets
at Statista in 2020. His work is
mainly focused on compre-
hensive data analysis, company
modelling and the creation of
reports.
Before joining Statista, he gained
professional experience in a
research institute and an online
marketing agency.