Featured on the Kanoobi Show: eCommerce in South Africa
Louw van Riet was featured on the Kanoobi Show discussing the state of South African ecommerce, lessons from 400+ store builds, and where the industry is heading.
Topics covered
- How COVID accelerated South African ecommerce by 5-6 years
- Why Shopify dominates the SA market vs WooCommerce and Magento
- What separates successful SA online stores from struggling ones
- The role of mobile in South African ecommerce (60%+ of orders)
- Why payment gateways like PayFast and Ozow matter
- What’s next — AI, social commerce, B2B platforms
Key takeaways
The biggest mistake SA ecommerce founders make is underestimating mobile. 60-70% of traffic and orders come from phones, yet most stores are still designed desktop-first. Fix mobile first.
The biggest opportunity is B2B. Most SA wholesalers and distributors still take phone orders. Building a B2B ecommerce platform is the next gold rush.
Want to be part of the SA ecommerce growth?
From startup builds to enterprise B2B — we’ve done it across South Africa for 10+ years.