Online buying spiking in SA

UP 19% FROM 2017: R45BN FOR 2018 AND R61BN BY 2020

Much is crossborder trade as people see advantages in purchasing overseas.

South Africans will spend more than R45 billion online this year, with more than 60% of buyers making a purchase from an overseas retailer, new research by Ipsos, for PayPal, has revealed. By 2020, the figure will rise to R61 billion.

The fourth annual PayPal and Ipsos cross-border e-commerce report shows that 69% of active online South African adults shopped online in the past 12 months, bringing total estimated spend in 2018 to R45.3 billion – a 19% increase over 2017.

“Online shopping is expected to increase even more over the next 24 months, with a forecast total spend of R61.9 billion in 2020, a 36% increase from 2018,” the companies said.

“The reason is that 75% of adults interviewed indicated the convenience of shopping online.”

The three most popular online shopping categories for South African consumers who shop online are clothing and apparel (53%), entertainment and education (digital/downloadable) (51%) and event tickets (51%).

Sixty-two percent of South African online shoppers purchased something from an overseas retailer in the past 12 months, compared to 43% in the previous year.

Clothing and apparel, footwear and accessories came in as the most common cross-border purchase at 68%, with jewellery and watches second at 62%. Consumer electronics, computers/tablets/mobiles and peripherals was the third purchase of choice (54%).

“South African online shoppers have realised that buying from overseas is not the hassle it once was, and that they can purchase must-have items, often at a better price,” said Efi Dahan, general manager for PayPal Russia, Middle East and Africa, in a statement.

South African online shoppers purchasing from overseas chose the US as their online shopping destination of choice (34%) due to better prices, availability and variety of styles, followed by China at 28% and the UK at 16%.

The research showed that Christmas, Black Friday, and seasonal sales were the three top occasions for shopping cross-border more frequently than usual.

M-commerce

Mobile-based shopping is growing strongly, the research found. Sixty-two percent of online shoppers have used their mobile device for purchases, resulting in an estimated R14.9 billion spend in 2018. This is forecast to grow to a R30.4 billion by 2020, doubling in value from 2018.

“Mobile technology is transforming e-commerce in Africa, and consumers are more likely to have a mobile device than a bank account,” said Dahan.

“South Africans are becoming more comfortable with mobile shopping due to easy-to-use apps for ordering car rides or food becoming commonplace.”

Interviews in South Africa were carried out between March 27 and April 17 among a sample of 1 003 interviewees. Of those interviewed, 845 were online shoppers who had made a purchase on the Internet and 523 were identified as cross-border shoppers.

This article was published with the permission of Tech Central

SA is getting more comfortable with mobile shopping.