TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Analysis | Rain muddies the waters with approach to Telkom

      11 August 2022

      Rain wants to merge with Telkom: asks to pitch proposal to board

      11 August 2022

      Rain lashed by Takeover Regulation Panel over Telkom statement

      11 August 2022

      Largest SA telecoms operators launch new industry association

      11 August 2022

      MTN shares climb on robust Nigeria, SA performance

      11 August 2022
    • World

      Gaming industry’s fortunes fade as pandemic ends

      11 August 2022

      Disney tops Netflix in streaming subscribers

      11 August 2022

      Jumia says it’s past peak losses, shares jump

      10 August 2022

      Elon Musk sells $6.9-billion of Tesla to avoid Twitter fire sale

      10 August 2022

      Nvidia issues profit warning on slump in demand for graphics cards

      8 August 2022
    • In-depth

      African unicorn Flutterwave battles fires on multiple fronts

      11 August 2022

      The length of Earth’s days has been increasing – and no one knows why

      7 August 2022

      As Facebook fades, the Mad Men of advertising stage a comeback

      2 August 2022

      Crypto breaks the rules. That’s the point

      27 July 2022

      E-mail scams are getting chillingly personal

      17 July 2022
    • Podcasts

      Qush on infosec: why prevention is always better than cure

      11 August 2022

      e4’s Adri Führi on encouraging more women into tech careers

      10 August 2022

      How South Africa can woo more women into tech

      4 August 2022

      Book and check-in via WhatsApp? FlySafair is on it

      28 July 2022

      Interview: Why Dell’s next-gen PowerEdge servers change the game

      28 July 2022
    • Opinion

      SIU seeks to set aside R215-million IT tender

      19 July 2022

      No reason South Africa should have a shortage of electricity: Ramaphosa

      11 July 2022

      Ntshavheni’s bias against the private sector

      8 July 2022

      South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

      4 July 2022

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»Sections»E-commerce»Takealot CEO’s lockdown plea to government: Allow unfettered e-commerce

    Takealot CEO’s lockdown plea to government: Allow unfettered e-commerce

    E-commerce By Duncan McLeod15 April 2020
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Takealot CEO Kim Reid

    Kim Reid, CEO of South Africa’s largest online retailer, Takealot.com, has made an impassioned plea to government to allow unfettered e-commerce and food delivery as a way of getting the economy going again.

    In a podcast interview with TechCentral on Wednesday (watch or listen to the discussion below), Reid said: “If you look at what’s happened elsewhere in the world, e-commerce has pretty much been trading at full throttle.”

    He said the Chinese government, for example, actively encouraged that country’s biggest commerce retailers to deliver services in Wuhan, the original epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic.

    Watch the video interview with Kim Reid:

    Listen to the audio:

    Not only will unfettered e-commerce allow South Africa’s economy to start growing again during the lockdown, but will also help contain the spread of the coronavirus given it discourages consumers from visiting physical stores where their chances of contracting the virus and spreading it are significantly heightened, Reid said.

    Takealot resumed trading a few days after the lockdown began on 27 March, but it is prohibited from selling anything other than essential goods, as defined in government regulations. As a result, its revenue has fallen by between 80% and 90%, he said. Its Superbalist business, which sells apparel, is prohibited from trading, while Mr D Food has begun limited deliveries, including for the MediRite pharmacy chain owned by Shoprite.

    Takealot has approached several government ministers, whom it has lobbied to have e-commerce fully operational again as soon as possible

    However, he said even selling only essential goods through Takealot has been enough to help the online retailer to some extent. “If you have made the decision to keep all staff on board, any revenue makes sense… We have largely become a face mask and hand sanitiser business,” he said.

    Takealot continues to pay all its staff and is “trying to mitigate the losses as best we can”. However, it will not be able to continue doing so indefinitely.

    If there is a further extension of the lockdown, without a significant relaxation of the rules, Reid said the impact will be deeply negative. “We have our sights set on starting to operate as we normally do on the Monday after the second lockdown. It would be insane not to open e-commerce at that time. I can’t see how any government cannot open e-commerce at that time to get at least part of the economy going again.”

    Limited progress

    Takealot has approached several government ministers, whom it has lobbied to have e-commerce fully operational again as soon as possible. But he said the company has made only limited progress in this regard so far, in part because the ministers “have other priorities” to focus on.

    “Government needs to start considering the fact that e-commerce may be a small part of this market, but it is a way to start getting the economy going.”  — © 2020 NewsCentral Media

    Kim Reid Mr D Food Superbalist Takealot Takealot.com top
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleMTN unveils R250-million Covid-19 ‘relief package’
    Next Article Which investment is shining brighter than all others?

    Related Posts

    Analysis | Rain muddies the waters with approach to Telkom

    11 August 2022

    Rain wants to merge with Telkom: asks to pitch proposal to board

    11 August 2022

    Rain lashed by Takeover Regulation Panel over Telkom statement

    11 August 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Pricing Beyond CMYK: printers answer the FAQs

    11 August 2022

    How secure is your cloud?

    10 August 2022

    5 ways to make attack-path management more manageable

    10 August 2022
    Opinion

    SIU seeks to set aside R215-million IT tender

    19 July 2022

    No reason South Africa should have a shortage of electricity: Ramaphosa

    11 July 2022

    Ntshavheni’s bias against the private sector

    8 July 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.