Online retailing in SA has plenty of room for growth
A Nielsen survey indicates that SA consumers are open to the idea of online shopping, with online grocery shopping still the ‘holy grail’ for retailers
Online shopping in SA is a nascent industry‚ but one with plenty of room for growth. This is the indication of a recent global survey from market research company, Nielsen. The survey was conducted in 63 countries and included a sub-set of results from SA. The findings paint a picture of consumers who do not buy online often but are open to it, and which point to rising connectivity as a reason for attractive growth prospects for online retail in the country. Only 3% of respondents say they buy online "regularly". The most common online purchases include travel arrangements‚ event tickets‚ books and fashion. One category South African businesses hope to exploit is online grocery shopping. Online grocery shopping has long been thought of as the holy grail of e-commerce, but online giants, such as Amazon, have tried and mostly failed in their efforts to capture the lucrative food industry so far. However‚ 40% of South Africans surveyed said they are not currently buying groceries onli...
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