ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK: Black Friday sets scene for SA e-tail boom
Total online retail market turned over R10-billion last year
This Friday, online retail in South Africa will see its highest sales revenue in a single day yet. The country's largest e-tailer, Takealot, will generate more revenue in one day than the entire online retail industry did in the year 2000. Known as Black Friday, the tradition for the fourth Friday of November to be a day of shopping madness is a direct and shameless American import. It is the day after Thanksgiving in the US and marks the unofficial beginning of holiday season shopping. Supposedly, the beginning of the shopping frenzy also marked the switch from retailers being in the red for the year to going into profit. Massive discounts are expected by shoppers, and most retailers offer promotional prices that are hard to resist. Volume, rather than profit, is the goal. "We've seen it grow strongly every year," said Takealot CEO Kim Reid, speaking to Business Times this week at the company's 60,000m² distribution centre in Kempton Park. "Two years ago we turned over R17.8-millio...
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