Amazon joins Vitality Mall

Vitality Mall has added Amazon to its list of companies where South Africans can spend their Discovery Miles.

For a launch promotion, Discovery users can get a R100 Amazon reward for D200 (R20) and customers can “enjoy their Lightning Deals on Amazon.co.za today and free delivery over the festive season.”

The latest announcement highlights Amazon’s rapid expansion in South Africa.

Despite operating in South Africa for over two decades through Amazon Web Services, many South Africans were excited by the launch of Amazon.co.za in May of this year, with the American tech giant brought its e-commerce platform to the country.

Speaking with BusinessTech in September, Robert Koen, Managing Director of Amazon Sub-Saharan Africa, said the group is pleased with its performance so far. He noted that users have been especially impressed by the 24/7 customer service, including the “Click to Call” option on the website.

He added that the business is also looking to expand in a way that suits the needs of South African customers. Since then, it launched a month-long Black Friday.

He noted that South African consumers mainly purchase everyday items such as washing liquid and fire lighters, with the group continuing to expand its product offerings with the marketplace still in its infancy.

The international e-commerce has made a splash in the local market.

Takealot recently said that it is facing increased competition from Amazon and Temu in South Africa.

In its interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2024, parent company Naspers said that the Takealot group business continues to face a slow-growing macroeconomic environment and increased competition from Temu and Amazon.

That said, the international giant still has a long way to go before it can effectively take on Takealot.

For instance, in a recent poll on BusinessTech, Takealot still holds a substantial lead over Amazon amongst our readers.

Of 2,907 votes, 1,976 readers (68%) said that Takealot was their favourite online store.

Amazon, which came third overall, only received 235 votes 8% of votes.

Read: R14,400 per month salary win for government employees in South Africa