Rapid expansion of e-commerce in South Africa and the rest of the world is creating both opportunities and threats for freight forwarders. Natalie Cowling of Statista says it is estimated that the number of e-commerce users in South Africa will have grown to 38 million by 2027. Clearly, there is plenty of room for growth.Despite being ranked the 33rd largest economy by per capita GDP, South Africa is only the 42nd largest e-commerce market, according to Natasha Parmanand, managing director: operations for sub-Saharan Africa at FedEx.The South African e-commerce market was valued at $6.2 billion in 2023 by global market intelligence firm RationalStat. It estimates the local market will grow to $16.3bn by 2030.The opening of the first Amazon warehouse in Cape Town during 2024 is expected to provide an added boost to the market. Amazon will need to fight hard for market share and will rely, initially at least, on local logistics companies to deliver. According to Statista’s Global Consumer Survey, Takealot and Clicks pharmacy were the most popular online shops as of March 2023. About 66% of respondents had purchased products recently from Takealot, and 29% from Clicks. The Takealot group includes Mr D and has gone international through Superbalist. Amazon ranked fifth with nearly 20% shopper support.Local opportunities for freight forwarders are seen mainly in the delivery of goods to the warehouses of e-commerce companies, done on behalf of sellers.Takealot has its own “Delivery Team” (formerly Mr D Courier), with independent contractors in some cases handling the last mile. M24 Logistics, which is part of the same Naspers stable, handles the company’s clearing and forwarding.Amazon has extensive logistics structures in established markets. For instance, Amazon Global Logistics ships ocean cargo from China directly to Amazon warehouses and into the Amazon network in the US, the UK and Europe. However, the company may need time to establish a network in South Africa for the transport of breakbulk cargo between centres and its own Delivery Service Partner (DSP) programme. Freight forwarders and clearing agents may find more opportunities in business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce. Estimates put B2B at five times the value of the business-to-consumer (B2C) market. Business consulting firm Grand View Research projects that the global B2B e-commerce market size will reach $20.9 trillion by 2027.The trend – and a threat to clearing agents and forwarders – is that digitisation of documentation and cross-border procedures is making it easier for larger B2B suppliers to bring the operations in-house, according to Alice Zhou of GoFreight.
