The growth of South Africa’s largest e-commerce group, Naspers-owned Takealot, supports recent forecasts that e-commerce is rapidly expanding in South Africa and will soon surpass 10% of total retail sales.

In its interim results to end-September, published on Monday, Naspers said Takealot continues to hold a key position in the South African e-commerce sector despite facing stiff competition from international rivals such as Amazon and Shein.

“Takealot Group delivered a strong performance for the first half of the 2026 financial year, achieving substantial growth and a marked improvement in its path to profitability,” Naspers and Prosus CEO Fabricio Bloisi said in commentary with the results.

“The group continued to broaden its market reach and successfully launched external fulfilment services to support third-party sellers. Takealot maintained its important presence in South African e-commerce, outperforming international competitors while advancing towards full profitability.”

Takealot Group grew revenue 23% year on year in rand terms – this figure excludes mergers and acquisitions. Gross merchandise value increased 16% year on year, also in rand terms, while Ebitda – earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation – increased by US$10-million to $28-million. Bloisi described the increase as a “step-change” in the company’s measure of operating profitability, although Takealot is yet to become profitable overall.

The group’s recently spun-out logistics arm, Takealot Fulfilment Services, has made deals with large South African retailers, with further expansion into other business-to-business, business-to-consumer and consumer-to-consumer offerings in the pipeline, according to Naspers.

Sales boom

Takealot.com, including the newly launched TFS fulfilment business, delivered revenue growth of 32% year on year to $385 (R6.7-billion). Gross merchandise value rose 17% year on year, supported by a 16% year-on-year uptick in order growth. TakealotMore subscribers account for just over a fifth of sales values on the platform.

“Takealot’s subscription programme, TakealotMore, continued to strengthen customer loyalty and cross-sell opportunities, with subscribers now driving 21% of group gross merchandise value,” said Bloisi.

Although the group is yet to be profitable in its entirety, its on-demand food and grocery delivery platform, Mr D Food, is already there. Mr D achieved 12% revenue growth (in rand terms) to $65-million, supported by 14% gross merchandise value growth with the grocery segment accelerating GMV by 47%. Mr D Food’s Ebitda over the period was $3-million, “maintaining profitability while scaling its offering across food, grocery and retail categories”, according to the report.

Read: TFG online sales jump to 15% of total

As the largest e-commerce platform by revenue in South Africa, Takealot’s revenue growth mirrors the September prediction by research firm World Wide Worx that online retail in South Africa is poised to breach 10% as a proportion of total retail sales by January 2026. According to the report, online shopping grew 35% year on year in 2024, with 45% of survey respondents claiming Takealot.com is the platform they use most for online purchases.

Overall group e-commerce revenue growth – this includes Naspers and subsidiary Prosus’s operations in Latin America, Europe, Asia and South Africa – was largely in-line with Takealot’s at 21%. Total revenue was $4.1-billlion for the period.

However, groupwide e-commerce Ebitda shot up 71% year on year to $557-million, outpacing the South African operations’ 55% Ebitda.

According to Bloisi, the use of AI to streamline operational efficiency continues to be a key contributor to Naspers’s global e-commerce success.

Read: Prosus reports blowout results on iFood and OLX momentum

“We are delivering as promised through strong execution, discipline and integration – driving deeper engagement with customers and unlocking new revenue streams. We are building the future with AI, and already have more than 20 000 AI agents helping us scale quicker and make smarter decisions,” said Bloisi. — © 2025 NewsCentral Media

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