Top South African e-commerce retailers join hands

15 Oct '14

2 min read

Kalahari.com, an online retail company owned by media and e-commerce group Naspers, is set to merge with Takealot.com, one of the top e-commerce retailers in South Africa, Business Day reported.

According to the deal, Naspers will take a 41 percent equity position in Takealot.com, from its current majority shareholder, Tiger Global Management, a US-based international technology investment company.

The proposed merger is subject to Competition Commission approval and will only become effective once the commission has ruled, the companies said in a joint statement.

The merger is expected to bring customers the benefit of a wider selection of products and categories, as well as broader delivery services. The merger is about building an early and clear lead in a market that is set to boom in the coming years, the companies said.

Takealot.com’s CEO, Kim Reid, said the merger was driven by the fact that, without scale, South African retailers cannot compete successfully against the local brick and mortar retailers and foreign companies such as Amazon and Alibaba.

According to Reid, online retail accounts for only 1.3 percent of the total market for consumer goods in South Africa and the channel has great upside potential, as US and the UK online retail accounts for as much as 14 percent of total retail of consumer goods.

Oliver Rippel, senior executive of Kalahari.com, said that after many years of losses on Kalahari.com, the decision to work together was taken. (GK)

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India