CONTENTS w There’s more to e-commerce than meets the eye in SA w What South Africans want online – the numbers are telling us w A guide to running your online store efficiently w Buy now pay later Black Friday online sales triple – driven by women w 7 top smart products: Xiaomi’s smart gadgets are here to make life easier and convenient
Editor’s letter
CONTACT US PUBLISHER Vasantha Angamuthu vasantha@africannewsagency.com EDITOR Wesley Diphoko wesley.diphoko@inl.co.za DESIGN Dominique Owen dominique.owen@inl.co.za PRODUCTION Renata Ford renata.ford@inl.co.za BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Keshni Odayan keshni.odayan@inl.co.za SALES Charl Reineke charl.reineke@inl.co.za ENQUIRIES iol.magazines@inl.co.za
THERE was a time when businesses were trying to convince people to buy online. People were sceptical of using credit cards for online purchases. There was just no trust in the system... except some early adopter consumers. Thanks to Covid-19 and other factors, consumers have been converted to buying online, as can be seen in our Global Web Index report feature. Businesses are now facing a new challenge of safeguarding consumers online. But consumers have to deal with online scammers who steal data, fake goods and other online dangers. Some businesses have just jumped on
the bandwagon and are battling to make it work. In this issue of IOL Tech digital magazine, we offer guidance on how business owners can run their online platform effectively. We also introduce the latest way in which Pick n Pay customers can interact with the local retail giant, thanks to an SA-founded company behind Clickatell. We wrap up all things e-commerce with the focus on an app that allows you to buy and pay later. We do this by sharing some data about how South Africans behaved online over the past few days. For instance, female shoppers were the biggest players during these super-sized shopping days (Black Friday and
Cyber Monday). We hope that you will find this content useful and informative. This year has been tough for businesses. We are looking forward to sharing more insightful content in 2022. Enjoy.
Wesley Diphoko
