{"id":845235,"date":"2025-12-14T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=845235"},"modified":"2025-12-12T15:42:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T13:42:18","slug":"takealot-beating-shein-and-temu-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/845235\/takealot-beating-shein-and-temu-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Takealot beating Shein and Temu in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Christmas is right around the corner, and Takealot is comfortably the dominant choice for festive season shopping.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is according to infoQuest, an online researcher, which asked 300 South Africans across all demographics about their holiday plans and gift-buying intentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to retailer of choice, Takealot is overwhelmingly the dominant choice, with the e-commerce platform the undisputed leader for gifting convenience and selection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takealot leads at 61%, close to 20 percentage points higher than second-place Clicks (42%), while Chckers is in third at 37%.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clicks (42%) and Dischem (30%) showed that health, beauty and wellness products are now firmly positioned as key high-frequency stops in the gift-buying journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Checkers also stands out, outperforming competitors including Pick n Pay, Shoprite and Woolworths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Shein (29%) and Temu (19%) continue to gain traction as popular shopping destinations, they are still far from Takealot\u2019s dominance.\u00a0The Chinese retailers have faced resistance from other retailers and SARS<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takealot\u2019s parent company Naspers, which is the most valuable company in South Africa, recently said that Takealot has maintained its dominant position in the South African market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The e-commerce giant is also set for a significant achievement, with the Takealot Group <\/a>expected to swing into profit in the 2026 financial year.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takealot CFO Tessa Ackerman told BusinessTech that the period from October to December is crucial for Takealot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the festive season reaches Takealot\u2019s expectations, the entire group, which also includes the already profitable Mr D, will become profitable for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retailer<\/th>Percentage<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Takealot<\/td>61%<\/td><\/tr>
Clicks<\/td>42%<\/td><\/tr>
Checkers<\/td>37%<\/td><\/tr>
Game<\/td>33%<\/td><\/tr>
Woolworths<\/td>31%<\/td><\/tr>
Dischem<\/td>30%<\/td><\/tr>
Shein<\/td>29%<\/td><\/tr>
Mr Price<\/td>28%<\/td><\/tr>
Makro<\/td>28%<\/td><\/tr>
Pick n Pay<\/td>23%<\/td><\/tr>
Shoprite<\/td>20%<\/td><\/tr>
Temu<\/td>19%<\/td><\/tr>
Pep<\/td>18%<\/td><\/tr>
China Mall\/Chinese shops<\/td>16%<\/td><\/tr>
iStore<\/td>14%<\/td><\/tr>
Hi-Fi Corporation<\/td>11%<\/td><\/tr>
Builders Warehouse<\/td>11%<\/td><\/tr>
Spar<\/td>10%<\/td><\/tr>
Exclusive Books<\/td>9%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Questions over saving\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With many South Africans planning for the Christmas period, 76% of respondents set money aside and saved throughout the year for festive spending. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, a prominent position will still turn to debt to get through the season. Credit cards are the preferred form of debt, with 18% using credit to pay for gifts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 18\u201334 age group is especially likely to rely on credit cards, according to InfoQuest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

InfoQuest warned that relying on credit cards or succumbing to the temptation to overspend on gifts poses a serious financial risk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the holidays can offer a much-needed emotional release, accumulating excessive debt now can lead to a punishing \u201cJanuworry.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This can force consumers to take new loans to cover essential New Year expenses like school fees and annual insurance increases.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo ensure the hard-earned break is not instantly undone, managing festive spending and avoiding a significant debt hangover is paramount to starting the new year on a sound financial footing,\u201d said Claire Heckrath, MD of infoQuest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In essence, the data reveals resilient and determined South Africans prioritising the festive season as a time for self-reward and familial connection, despite the challenging economy,” says Heckrath<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is demonstrated by the optimistic spending outlook, where a significant portion of consumers plan to spend more than last year.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spending Habits<\/th>Percentage<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Have saved up for holiday expenses<\/td>76%<\/td><\/tr>
Will use my credit card<\/td>18%<\/td><\/tr>
With my bonus \/ 13th cheque<\/td>1%<\/td><\/tr>
Will borrow from friends\/family<\/td>5%<\/td><\/tr>
Will take out a personal loan<\/td>5%<\/td><\/tr>
Will borrow from my stokvel<\/td>3%<\/td><\/tr>
I have not made any special provision to cover holiday expenses<\/td>15%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Takealot is comfortably the retailer of choice for Christmas shoppers in South Africa. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":789277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[17460,20059,3314,19401],"class_list":["post-845235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-infoquest","tag-shein","tag-takealot","tag-temu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845235"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":846422,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845235\/revisions\/846422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}