The South African digital landscape continues to benefit from improvements in internet penetration and falling data prices. These dynamics have been particularly beneficial for streaming services, which are leveraging the expansion of 5G networks, reaching 50% coverage nationwide, as well as fibre optic connectivity subscriptions rising from 1.
As consumers become more price sensitive due to challenging economic conditions, leading retailers are forming strategic partnerships with Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) service providers to boost consumer affordability and meet the increased demand for flexible payment options. For leading retailers offering store cards, this move aims to reduce operating risks and is supported by the introduction of more diversified offerings to widen the consumer base.
With digital commerce gaining traction during the review period, the government is taking more steps to modernise the regulatory framework to accommodate the expansion of the digital economy. In this context, the government resolved a 13-year debate related to e-hailing services by amending the National Land Transport Act 5 of 2009 in June 2024.
The South African digital shopping landscape is likely to continue to benefit from government efforts to close the connectivity divide, modernise payment systems, and improve infrastructure development. A prominent example is the decision to prohibit network operators from activating new 2G and 3G-only devices from January 2025, with an effective phase-out of such networks planned for December 2027.
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Understand the latest market trends and future growth opportunities for the Digital Shopper industry in South Africa with research from Euromonitor International's team of in-country analysts – experts by industry and geographic specialisation.
Learn how technology is impacting digital commerce across a variety of industries, including retail, foodservice, travel, entertainment, mobility and streaming services. Insightful, thought-provoking and forward-looking analysis from top analysts in the space helps you understand the scale and direction of transformation. Data from Euromonitor International's annual Voice of the Consumer: Digital Survey provides you with insights into the consumer perception of tech-driven commerce initiatives.
Analysis in this report provides further detailed coverage dedicated to the following key categories across the 20 most important digital shopper markets:
E-COMMERCE (GOOD AND SERVICES) BY MERCHANT TYPE
E-COMMERCE (GOOD AND SERVICES) BY DEVICE AND PLATFORM
E-COMMERCE (GOOD AND SERVICES) BY FULFILLMENT MODEL
EMERGING BUSINESS MODELS
If you're in the Digital Shopper industry in South Africa, our research will help you to make informed, intelligent decisions; to recognise and profit from opportunity, or to offer resilience amidst market uncertainty.
Digital Shopper
Tracks all sales of goods and services to the public via the internet. Consumer purchases through web platforms are attributed to the country in which the consumer is based, rather than where the merchant is based. Our definition is agnostic as to where the actual payment takes place. If an order is initiated online, we would consider that order to be an e-commerce transaction, even if the order is ultimately paid for in-store, with cash on delivery, by mail via postal cheque, or in person when turning in a ticket and associated payment at a designated ATM or branch facility. Our figures exclude consumer-to-consumer (C2C) and business-to-business (B2B) sales. Business-to-consumer sales (B2C) – in which the business is registered with the government and pays the appropriate taxes – are included. This includes B2C sales on marketplace platforms, which allow many merchants to sell on their website and process the transaction. While both businesses and consumers can sell through marketplaces, only B2C transactions are included in our coverage. Note that online sales from direct selling companies are excluded from our definition. As we are primarily concerned with tracking the importance of the direct selling model (and not where the final sale is made), all sales attributable to a direct selling company will fall into direct selling rather than E-Commerce. Credit or charge card bill payments, mortgages and other loan payments, money transfers, digital person-to-person payments, insurance payments and donations to charities and crowdfunding campaigns are excluded from Euromonitor’s coverage. For C2G transactions, consumer payments made to governments for direct consumption of services and utilities, excluding taxes, fines, and administrative fees, are included. This includes all online purchases made by a consumer to a business for either goods or services regardless of the device (PC, mobile phone, tablet, etc.) used to execute the transaction. It is subdivided into the following eight areas of E-Commerce: Retail, Foodservice, Travel, Mobility, Ticketed Entertainment, Streaming Services, Bill Payments and Other.
See all of our definitionsThis report originates from Passport, our Digital Shopper research and analysis database.
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