Emerging ecommerce opportunities: What entrepreneurs abroad are doing that their local counterparts could be doing

In May this year, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released a report that showed e-commerce’s share of the global retail trade grew from 14% in 2019 to 17% in 2020. The huge increase, representing tens of trillions of dollars, was directly attributable to Covid-19 enforcing lockdowns, leaving businesses little option but to trade online as consumers transitioned to digital purchasing amid stringent virus mitigation measures.

In South Africa, e-commerce grew by a whopping 66% in 2020 as Covid-wary consumers avoided malls and turned to home deliveries. A study by World Wide Worx shows that online sales topped R30-billion – some 50% higher than what was projected by analysts. Read more