South Africa's crackdown on low-value imports has slowed cross-border e-commerce sharply, according to World Wide Worx's Online Retail in South Africa 2026 report. Shein's growth fell from between 30% and 50% a year to 11% in 2025, and Temu recorded average monthly declines of 42%.

Cross-border growth overall dropped to 7% in 2025. Both platforms are now shifting toward local fulfilment and South African sellers.

The policy sequence did the work. SARS removed the de minimis concession in November 2024, which had let parcels under R500 clear at a flat 20% duty with no VAT, an arrangement dating to 2007 when local retailers faced duties up to 45% plus VAT on comparable goods. A tiered tariff structure followed in February 2025, then tighter declaration requirements in April, and Treasury's draft tax Bills later proposed removing low customs-value consignment relief entirely, along with more than 140 customs concessions.

Two numbers put the scale in perspective. Roughly 19 million cross-border orders were placed in 2025, still 18.6% of all local e-commerce transactions. And Shein and Temu's combined estimated turnover of R7.3-billion is less than a tenth of the R92-billion in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather that entered the country in 2024, though the report notes customs value and retail turnover are not directly comparable.

SA journalist Arthur Goldstuck's reading is that the two are not as big in the consumer mind as coverage suggests, and that the outcome looks like coexistence rather than displacement.

ITWeb reported the findings and the shift toward local execution, noting Temu has introduced local-dispatch warehousing through logistics partners. World Wide Worx publishes the full report, which argues a platform relying on individual cross-border shipments can be constrained through customs enforcement, while one operating through local fulfilment, inventory and South African sellers is considerably harder to regulate away. Ecommerce Forum South Africa's Alastair Tempest told ITWeb in July that parcels still enter chronically undervalued, and that SARS recognises the problem but lacks the staff for the volume.

Local retailers got what they asked for, and the threat changed shape rather than going away. A platform shipping parcels from abroad is exposed to customs enforcement. A platform holding local inventory, using local logistics partners and onboarding South African sellers is a normal competitor, and considerably harder to regulate.

It is also a slower and more expensive model, which shifts the contest onto operational efficiency rather than price alone. That is the same ground the fulfilment and subscription race we covered this week is being fought on, where the test is whether you can fund free delivery at R99 a month.

The practical read for a local seller is that Temu's merchant programme is now a channel decision rather than a foreign threat, and Tempest's undervaluation point suggests the enforcement gap has not closed either.

You might also like our piece on why the Shein IPO valuation fell 60% when governments closed one loophole, what the 2026 draft tax bills change for importers, and how TFG store closures show one website beating a hundred shops.

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