Online Shopping Sustains Momentum In Post-Covid South Africa

Online shopping in South Africa will reach ZAR 55 B (USD 3.2 B) in 2022, a 30 percent increase from the ZAR 42.3 B (USD 2.4 B) the previous year, according to new research.

World Wide Worx, which conducted the study, found that 2022’s strong growth – which came on top a 40 percent improvement in 2021 – was driven by the post-pandemic boom in demand for home deliveries.

The World Wide Worx findings are compiled from accumulated figures and projections from listed companies, interviews with unlisted online retailers, and data on card transactions.

“One can call this the pandemic dividend,” MD Arthur Goldstuck said in a statement on Thursday. Goldstuck, who was the principal analyst on the research project, said the 2020 boom in home deliveries has continued for the past two years, as “retailers compete aggressively in every area of online shopping.”

Online sales were again boosted by Black Friday, with the banks reporting huge increases in card and online spending.

“Stellar performers included Checkers Sixty60, which grew turnover by 150 percent from July 2021 to July 2022, Mr Price, which reported online retail sales up 48.2 percent for the year to April 2022, and Pick n Pay, which reported in its annual results for the year to the end of February 2022 that online sales had seen annual compound growth of 72.5 percent over the previous two years,” Goldstuck said.

World Wide Worx, which conducted the research with support from Mastercard, expects that for 2022, online retail will make up 4.7 percent of total retail in South Africa, up from 4 percent in 2021 and 2.8 percent in 2020. Goldstuck said he expects the figure will exceed 5 percent in 2023.

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