Takealot on Amazon: 'Competition is good for us and the consumer'

John Perlman chats to CEO of Takealot Group, Fred Zietsman.

Listen to their conversation in the audio clip below.

Our e-commerce sector is rapidly growing.

Currently, South Africans have the option of either using local company Takealot or Chinese online shopping platforms like Shein and Temu, which have gained popularity in the country.

And let's not forget, Amazon will also be available to us soon.

So, with all these options, should leading e-commerce group Takealot, which incorporates the Takealot.com, Mr D and Superbalist platforms, be concerned about competition?

"We've been at this for about 12 years now looking at e-commerce in South Africa. We've paid our school fees and we've had our learning over the years." 

 -  Fred Zietsman, Takealot Group CEO

Zietsman believes that they understand the lcoal consumer quite well.

"...we've built up a good understanding of what they appreciate and what they want us to improve."

-  Fred Zietsman, Takealot Group CEO

He adds that competition is good for business and the consumer.

"When it comes to competition, I think competition is good - firstly for the customer... but also good for us because it gives us an opportunity to self-evaluate, refine where appropriate but I don't think we are reacting per say to the competition."  

-  Fred Zietsman, Takealot Group CEO

"If you think about where we've come from since Covid, Covid gave us a lot of opportunity to reflect on our model because of the volume that we had through our platform. A lot of that planning is coming to fruition in 2024." 

 -  Fred Zietsman, Takealot Group CEO

Scroll up to listen to the full interview.