Amazon will launch its online shopping service in South Africa in 2024 as it seeks to tap into the country’s ongoing e-commerce boom.
It means that South Africa will become only the second African country after Egypt where the e-commerce giant has set up a locally-dedicated website.
The move comes at a time when online shopping continues to surge in the region. Earlier, this year, a study conducted by World Wide Worx with Mastercard, revealed that online retail in South Africa passed the R50-billion milestone in 2022, driven by sustained demand for home deliveries. The total growth for online retail in South Africa in 2022 came to 35%, following on from 40% growth the previous year.
Currently independent sellers make up more than 60% of sales in Amazon’s store, most of which are small and medium-sized businesses. The firm said in a statement that by introducing Amazon.co.za, South-African based sellers will have an opportunity to rapidly launch, grow, and scale their businesses by reaching customers across the country. It has already opened up the registration process for local businesses looking to sell on its online marketplace.
Speaking on the announcement, Robert Koen, general manager of the Sub-Saharan Africa region for Amazon said: “We look forward to launching Amazon.co.za in South Africa, providing local sellers, brand owners, and entrepreneurs—small and large—the opportunity to grow their business with Amazon, and delivering great value and a convenient shopping experience for customers across South Africa.”
Further research from the “Online Retail in South Africa 2022” report, showed that online sales, last year, were boosted by Black Friday, with all banks reporting massive increases in card and online spending on what has become one of the biggest shopping days of the year.
The report also marked out some of the top performers in e-commerce for the year. Checkers Sixty60 grew turnover by 150% from July 2021 to July 2022 while Mr Price reported online retail sales up 48.2% for the year to April 2022. Additionally, Pick ‘n Pay showed annual compound growth of 72.5% over two years.
