E-commerce: the great equaliser

OPINION

The rise of e-commerce has not just changed how we shop – it has reinvented the whole customer experience from end-to-end. With the click of a button, consumers across the country can access the goods they want and need without stress or hurry. As opportunity in the e-commerce space becomes more clear, traditional bricks and mortar retailers are also rapidly growing their online presence, which is increasing competition and affording customers more choice and better prices.  

Historically, the number of people shopping or ordering food online has correlated closely with income and location. As you might expect, the lion’s share of trade was among higher-income consumers in cities and larger towns compared with those in remote areas. Service delivery in rural areas is often more costly, population densities are lower, precluding economies of scale, and locating customers who often don’t have a formal address can make navigation and doorstop delivery tricky. 

At Takealot, innovation has been taking place from the warehouse to the doorstep to bring more and more customers into the ecommerce fold. We know that, as digital technologies and tools become more accessible, they provide a unique opportunity for customers of all locations and income levels to engage in the global economy, thereby promoting equitable and inclusive growth. By simply dropping a pin at your location, Takealot can now deliver to customers without a formal address thereby enabling especially rural areas to gain a critical service. This is an exciting development, enabling us to deliver to markets that have historically been underserved. 

Takealot.com launched in 2011, operating out of a small suburban home with stock stacked in the garage. Our footprint has since expanded to reach every corner of South Africa, with 90 Pickup Points, more than 13,000 driver partners and over 90 franchise branches that service over three million customers. And we are extending our footprint. This expanded network is the great equalizer with those living in Lusikisiki, Tembisa or Umlazi having the same access to our platform and the 8,000 small businesses that we enable as those living in Sandton or Camps Bay. Our network of local delivery partners know the local roads, the lanes and the shortcuts. They are proud to be serving consumers from all walks of life, from the Western Cape to Limpopo. 

Of course, the positive effects of e-commerce extend beyond individual customers. Entrepreneurs who have become sellers on Takealot.com or have restaurants that have listed on MrD, have been able to access more cost effective and reliable opportunities in a seamless manner. One of the biggest challenges SMEs face is that of access to market. Our business model solves that issue improving the odds of success for many small businesses. The platform ecosystem is also contributing to structural transformation of the economy by formalising transactions and employment and enabling more sellers and SMEs to participate in inclusive growth. 

Ecommerce is a gamechanger for these businesses and a key enabler of a sector that will drive the levels of economic growth we need to lift people out of poverty and create jobs. 

The Takealot Group ecosystem, together with our partners, is helping to address the pressing challenge of unemployment in this country by supporting over 33,000 jobs in SA. And the majority of orders fulfilled by Takealot are supplied by homegrown marketplace sellers and picked and packed by a growing population of young people working in our distribution centres,

For companies to operate in thriving communities and to create sustainable jobs, we need to put shoulder to the wheel to create an environment where everyone, irrespective of where they live or their family circumstances, are given every opportunity to thrive. 

As a homegrown business, we are honoured to be supporting South Africans and helping shape what it means to be a more digitally enabled, inclusive economy that allows people from all socioeconomic backgrounds to have equitable access to a relevant marketplace. 

E-commerce is the great equaliser, and we are committed to building an e-commerce ecosystem in South Africa for the benefit of all who live in it.