South African Retail on the Rise

Online, May 20, 2010 (Newswire.com) - The "South Africa Retail, Home-Shopping, E-Commerce Report 2010", the latest report published by Hamburg-based market research firm yStats.com, shows a positive upward trend in South African retail:

Figures and trends in South African retail
Based on the latest estimates retail revenue is expected to rise from 64 billion US-$ in 2009 to 106 billion US-$ in 2014. The main reasons for this encouraging development are seen in the economic boom and a lower unemployment rate. Furthermore, consumer spending per capita is forecasted to increase from 4,260 US-$ in 2009 to 6,252 US-$ in 2014, which can be attributed to an increase in tourism and the related spending. Although this trend was slightly curbed in 2009, it appears to gain momentum again in the light of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The yStats.com report shows that in 2010 the biggest South African retail chains are among the 250 largest companies worldwide; among them Shoprite Holdings Ltd. is ranked the highest (130th place). Only a minority of South Africans make use of teleshopping promotions; the majority of all sales are still generated in traditional retail outlets.

Online shopping spurs growth
Although internet use has rapidly increased in South Africa over the last few years, online retail remains overall less significant. In 2009, only 4.6 million South Africans used the internet, fewer than in e.g. Morocco, Nigeria and Egypt (10 million each). According to the figures published in yStats.com's "South Africa Retail, Home-Shopping, E-Commerce Report" by the end of 2009 online retail accounted for less than 1% of all retail revenues in South Africa. Nonetheless, online retailers remain optimistic about revenue growth for the year of the World Cup. This is further supported by the fact that already in 2009 e-commerce sites such as kalahari.net saw their revenues increase between 20% and 25% compared to the previous year.