South Africa’s largest e-retailer, the Takealot Group, grew revenues by 36% year on year in the six months to 30 September 2021. It is also nearing breakeven.

Takealot, which comprises Takealot.com, Mr D Food and Superbalist, “continued to benefit from the shift to online”, parent Naspers said in its interim results for the 2022 financial year published on Monday. The group reported a trading loss of US$2-million, Naspers said.

“This is an improvement of 67%, driven by higher gross margins at Takealot.com’s general e-commerce platform and Superbalist, which improved trading profit margins by one percentage point and nine percentage points respectively.”

Takealot’s gross merchandising value (GMV) — the total value of merchandise sold — climbed by 44% in rand terms. The fastest-growing categories were consumables, home, lifestyle and media. Third-party marketplace sales continued to outpace first-party offerings, with first-party retail sales growing 15% and third-party marketplace sales growing 55%, Naspers said.

Superbalist, which sells fashion online, grew GMV by 47% in rand terms, “despite increasing competition from brick-and-mortar fashion retailers”. Mr D, meanwhile, continued to “benefit from the shift in consumer spending from restaurant dining to online delivery”. It grew orders by 88% and GMV by 78%.

In April this year, Naspers acquired the share capital held by non-controlling shareholders of its subsidiary Takealot Online for $54.8-million. As a result, Naspers now holds a 100% effective interest (96% fully diluted) in Takealot.

This resulted in the cancellation of a $44.4-million put option liability and an $11.1-million employment-linked cash-settled share-based payment liability related to the non-controlling shareholder, which was derecognised, Naspers said. – © 2021 NewsCentral Media