South African online retail is projected to reach R159 billion in 2026, up roughly R29 billion from last year's R130 billion, according to the Online Retail in South Africa 2026 report from World Wide Worx.

That is growth of 22.5% and puts online at around 10% of total retail turnover for the first time. The report was produced with Mastercard, Peach Payments and Ask Africa.

Takealot remains the most-used platform at 35.3% of online shoppers, followed by Shein at 21.5% and Checkers Sixty60 at 15%. Amazon sits at 12.7%, though that figure was recorded before it launched Prime locally earlier this year.

The report names subscriptions and delivery economics as the competitive tests for the year ahead, and the pricing tells you why: Amazon Prime costs R59 a month here, Shoprite's Xtra Savings Plus offers unlimited free deliveries at R99 a month, and TakealotMORE accounted for more than a quarter of Takealot Group gross merchandise value within two years of launch.

Ask Africa's Andrea Rademeyer says convenience has become a stronger motivation than saving money or finding lower prices.

Two things to note on the data. The consumer research comes from 23,910 Ask Africa interviews conducted through 2025, so the platform shares are a year old, and the R159-billion is a projection rather than a completed year.

Hypertext reported the findings and Mastercard's Gabriel Swanepoel attributing the growth to better security and streamlined checkout, including buy now pay later options. TechCentral covered the same report. World Wide Worx publishes the full report, and managing director Arthur Goldstuck's line is the one worth reading twice: retailers are no longer funding digital commerce as a side project; they are building fulfilment, loyalty, marketplaces and advertising into the same operating system as their stores.

Goldstuck's description of the shift matches what the listed retailers have actually been doing. Sixty60 is what doubled Shoprite's market cap, and the group has since bought a coffee chain, a stake in a spaza payments platform, and shipped an AI shopping assistant. None of that is a website. It is fulfilment, loyalty and data built into the core business.

The harder read is for smaller merchants. When the competitive test is whether you can offer unlimited free delivery for R99 a month, that is not a test a small operator can pass on its own economics. The practical question becomes which marketplace or subscription you sit inside, and what that placement costs you, rather than whether you can beat it.

You might also like our piece on why TFG store closures say one website beats a hundred shops, how H&M South Africa keeps opening while the group shuts stores, and what the Big Mac Index rand figure says about local pricing.

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