The explosive growth of e-commerce in South Africa New data from FNB Merchant Services shows that the South African online e-commerce market has grown rapidly and is currently estimated at just under R200 billion per annum. Companies such as Takealot, Woolworths and Checkers are all adapting to new consumer habits. According to FNB, an increase in the e-commerce estimated value indicates how Covid-19 exponentially accelerated the use of e-commerce. People were spending less online with smaller retail and lower basket items gaining traction - the average purchase value of R390 was R60 less than the average in 2019. M-commerce is a term that most of us are familiar with- browsing or shopping online via smartphones and tablets. M-commerce is an emerging trend in many mobile-first markets. According to Statista, 72.9% of all retail e-commerce will come via m-commerce in 2021. Companies who have been quick to understand the salience of m-commerce have built responsive web designs for users that enable quick navigation, easy browsing of products, reading product reviews, etc. Statistics show that 40% of users will go to your competitor if they have a bad mobile experience. Takealot continued to benefit from the shift to online, growing gross merchandise value by 72% and revenue by 63% for the six months ended September 2021. "The fastest-growing categories were consumables, home, lifestyle and media," said Naspers. Other increases in smaller Naspers e-commerce companies were seen: - Mr D-As Takealot group's food-delivery business, Mr D also benefited from the shift in consumer spending to online delivery and saw an increase of 88% in orders. (3 The Independent institute of Education (Pty) Ltd 2023 Page 3 of 7 22;23;24 2023 - Superbalist - The online fashion website saw gross merchandise value increase by 77% despite increasing competition from brick-and-mortar fashion retailers. Adapted from: BusinessTech. 2022. The explosive growth of e-commerce in South Africa, 21 March 2021. [Online]. Available at: https://businesstech,co,zaews/business/ 568272/ the-explosive-growthof-e-commerce-in-south-africa/ [Accessed 24 April 2023]. Patel, E. 2020. 7 Advanced Technologies that are Redefining eCommerce, 22 April 2020. [Online]. Available at: https://understandingecommerce.com/7-advanced-technologies-that-are- redefining-ecommerce-2/ [Accessed 24 April 2023]. 2.1 Consider the case study provided and answer the following questions: a. Advise the management team of Takealot on what environmental scanning entail and support your advice with relevant examples. b. Conduct a macro environmental analysis on Takealot. Important: You are required to conduct additional research to complete this question. You will only receive marks for valid application points in the macro environmental analysis but you are required to provide relevant theory to support your analysis
