Cape Town - South Africa's online shoppers have taken to tablets in a big way, with an annual survey showing that over 40% of the country's connected shoppers now own tablet devices, and nearly 66% of those who do not indicated an intention to buy one.
The annual survey by online retailer kalahari.com shows that about 67% of tablet owners have already used their tablets to shop online.
The company believes the popularity of tablets has the potential to catalyse the local t-commerce (e-commerce by means of digital television) industry to growth levels that could mirror the bullish growth seen in Western countries.
According to global research and advisory firm Forrester, the $231bn in sales generated through e-commerce for US retailers in 2012 is expected to rise by 13% to $262bn this year.
It anticipates that this will overtake sales growth of conventional stores over the next five years, reaching $370bn by 2017. For Western Europe, Forrester predicts an even faster e-commerce growth rate from €112bn in 2012 to €191bn by 2017.
This represents a compound annual growth rate of 11%, versus 9% in the US.
When asked which tablet device they owned, the majority of respondents (50%) said Apple’s iPad, while 33.4% said Samsung’s Galaxy tablet.
“Samsung seems to be gaining a sizeable portion of the tablet market share. Last year’s mobile shopping survey revealed that Apple had a more than 40 percentage point lead on Samsung, but this year that gap has closed to a mere 25%,” said kalahari.com CEO Caren Genthner-Kappesz.
Boy toys and ever-popular apps
In 2012 kalahari.com saw a surge in the number of women purchasing tablet devices. In 2010, 36% of tablet purchases on kalahari.com were sold to women, rising quite dramatically in 2011 to 46%. But this year the trend has been reversed, with men accounting for about 60% of tablet sales again.
An overwhelming 73% of tablet users and 81% of smartphone users have used their tablets to purchase applications (apps).
The kalahari.com survey indicated that more people like to use their smartphones to browse and compare goods (81%), or read product reviews (77%) rather than actually ordering items (59%).
Genthner-Kappesz said she believes locals trends will likely mirror those in the US, where mobile commerce sales are predicted to go up to $39bn by the end of 2013, 56.5% from 2012, as a direct result of both smartphones and tablets becoming commonplace devices for shopping and buying online.
Smartphones are still in the driving seat of SA's m-commerce (commerce conducted by means of mobile devices). “The survey revealed that compared to last year, smartphone ownership has increased by 7%, meaning that 86% of kalahari.com shoppers own smartphones.
"Smartphones are still key players in fuelling e-commerce growth. A huge proportion of South Africa’s connected use the devices to access the internet and for online shopping,” said Genthner-Kappesz.
The survey showed a 26% boost in the number of shoppers who have made purchases using their phones.
The future looks good for m-commerce in SA, according to Genthner-Kappesz, who said "a massive 91% of people feel that it is as safe, if not safer, to use your mobile phone than it is to actually swipe your card in a mall".
- Fin24
The annual survey by online retailer kalahari.com shows that about 67% of tablet owners have already used their tablets to shop online.
The company believes the popularity of tablets has the potential to catalyse the local t-commerce (e-commerce by means of digital television) industry to growth levels that could mirror the bullish growth seen in Western countries.
According to global research and advisory firm Forrester, the $231bn in sales generated through e-commerce for US retailers in 2012 is expected to rise by 13% to $262bn this year.
It anticipates that this will overtake sales growth of conventional stores over the next five years, reaching $370bn by 2017. For Western Europe, Forrester predicts an even faster e-commerce growth rate from €112bn in 2012 to €191bn by 2017.
This represents a compound annual growth rate of 11%, versus 9% in the US.
When asked which tablet device they owned, the majority of respondents (50%) said Apple’s iPad, while 33.4% said Samsung’s Galaxy tablet.
“Samsung seems to be gaining a sizeable portion of the tablet market share. Last year’s mobile shopping survey revealed that Apple had a more than 40 percentage point lead on Samsung, but this year that gap has closed to a mere 25%,” said kalahari.com CEO Caren Genthner-Kappesz.
Boy toys and ever-popular apps
In 2012 kalahari.com saw a surge in the number of women purchasing tablet devices. In 2010, 36% of tablet purchases on kalahari.com were sold to women, rising quite dramatically in 2011 to 46%. But this year the trend has been reversed, with men accounting for about 60% of tablet sales again.
An overwhelming 73% of tablet users and 81% of smartphone users have used their tablets to purchase applications (apps).
The kalahari.com survey indicated that more people like to use their smartphones to browse and compare goods (81%), or read product reviews (77%) rather than actually ordering items (59%).
Genthner-Kappesz said she believes locals trends will likely mirror those in the US, where mobile commerce sales are predicted to go up to $39bn by the end of 2013, 56.5% from 2012, as a direct result of both smartphones and tablets becoming commonplace devices for shopping and buying online.
Smartphones are still in the driving seat of SA's m-commerce (commerce conducted by means of mobile devices). “The survey revealed that compared to last year, smartphone ownership has increased by 7%, meaning that 86% of kalahari.com shoppers own smartphones.
"Smartphones are still key players in fuelling e-commerce growth. A huge proportion of South Africa’s connected use the devices to access the internet and for online shopping,” said Genthner-Kappesz.
The survey showed a 26% boost in the number of shoppers who have made purchases using their phones.
The future looks good for m-commerce in SA, according to Genthner-Kappesz, who said "a massive 91% of people feel that it is as safe, if not safer, to use your mobile phone than it is to actually swipe your card in a mall".
- Fin24