ZEENAT MOORAD: SA's e-commerce playing catch up
SA's e-commerce is under 1% of a retail market worth more than R900bn seriously lagging behind other developing markets
I spend a fair deal of time at the shops. For research, you understand. I’m hardly one for the "glorification of busy," but with results season, travel, and work commitments I just haven’t been able to do as much retail walkabout as I am habitually accustomed to do.The consequence of this has been a spot of early morning or late night online shopping for things I wouldn’t usually buy on the Internet — like cheese, bread and Chuckles (sin goes with sin, right?).While half the UK may disagree I find shopping online for food a soulless experience. I’m more of a tactile shopper — I like tasting grapes before I buy them.There are things that I’m not unwilling to purchase online and they include books, toilet cleaner and eye cream. What I discovered from my shopfloor hiatus was that in SA, some categories still tend to be easier to buy online than others — not just from a personal-preference point of view but also in terms of store fulfilment. SA e-commerce is under 1% of a retail market ...
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