The booming e-business sector is not necessarily taking away money from the traditional 'offline' businesses, says Alicia Gaddin, ITT sector head for Synovate.
The global research company carried out a survey on 500 Internet users from Pretoria, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, and discovered 68% of the respondents make their purchases at local sites.
Says Gaddin: “Online shopping offers an extra channel for distribution, one which is growing rapidly. The challenge for retailers now is to build upon their offering so as to increase the amount of local spend further.”
In an earlier study, World Wide Worx revealed online shopping for 2010 will amount to R2 billion as more consumers become familiar with the process.
The IBM Institute for Business Value in its digital economy rankings for 2010 placed SA at number 40 out of 70 countries listed.
Synovate found that local shoppers see instant gratification as a priority when making purchases over the Internet, with 44% of the respondents saying they regularly purchase music and movies via the Net.
“Movie and music downloads, as well as mobile content and games are easy to buy online and also provide instant gratification compared to some of the other online purchases,” states Gaddin. “Buying books, CDs and DVDs and even groceries all come with a waiting period while the goods are delivered.”
However, she reveals that having Internet access does not necessarily mean customers will shop online. “Convenience, variety and saving money are big push factors when it comes to online shopping,” says Gaddin.
According to the survey, a fifth of the respondents said the main advantages of shopping online were convenience - 43% said it was more convenient than offline shopping, and 33% stated they shop online because it is “always open”.
Besides movie and music downloads, the survey also found other leading online buys were books, travel, CDs and DVDs and mobile content.
According to Synovate, the main reason why some South Africans dislike shopping online is to do with security.
“A third indicated that security risks acted as a barrier to online shopping and 24% were worried their goods would not be delivered. Some 18% believe the process is too difficult, whereas 19% state they simply do not have a credit card to do so.
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