South African ecommerce has matured. Online retail surpassed R130bn in 2025. According to Online Retail in South Africa 2025, a study conducted by World Wide Worx, in partnership with Mastercard, Peach Payments, and Ask Afrika, 74% of retailers report being profitable online. Growth expectations remain strong, with 74.2% of respondents forecasting turnover increases above 40% this year.
The infrastructure works. Now the battleground has shifted and the pressure point is checkout. Retailers are no longer fighting to get customers online. They are fighting to convert them once they arrive.
Friction is the revenue leak
When retailers were asked about the primary causes of cart abandonment, the results were clear. A long or complicated checkout process leads at 37.3%. Shipping fees follow at 31.3%. Credit card declines account for 27.9%. Returns policies, lack of payment methods and mandatory account creation trail behind.
The core rails are already in place. EFT is used by 94.5% of respondents, debit cards by 93.5%, credit cards by 75.6%, and instant EFT and PayShap have reached 40.8% adoption.
The issue is not access to payment methods. The issue is conversion friction.
If your checkout requires too many steps, forces unnecessary registration, or reveals shipping costs too late, you are creating self-inflicted losses. Simplification is now a growth strategy.
The hierarchy of priorities has changed
Retailers are clear about what matters when selecting payment gateways. Ease of integration is rated “very important” by 91.5% of respondents, security by 91.0%, user experience by 91.0%, price follows at 80.6%, and trust at 79.6%.
In 2024, trust and system stability led the hierarchy. In 2025, integration and UX lead, signalling maturity. Trust and uptime are expected. Deployment speed, stack fit and checkout experience differentiate. The gateway is no longer just a processor; it is a conversion lever.
Retailers that can deploy clean integrations, minimise redirects and streamline authentication are gaining measurable advantage.
Satisfaction is high but expansion is cautious
Ninety-two percent of retailers report satisfaction with their current payment providers. Very satisfied responses have risen sharply year-on-year. At the same time, 53.2% of respondents say they do not plan to introduce any new payment methods in the next 12 months.
This is a notable shift from 2024, when intent to add payment links, vouchers, BNPL and wallets appeared strong. In 2025, actual adoption of newer methods remains modest.
Mobile wallets are the most desired addition at 22.4%. Instant EFT and PayShap follow at 16.4%. BNPL stands at 14.9% and QR payments at 11.4%.
Payment links, biometric authentication and cryptocurrency attract minimal interest. The message is pragmatic. Retailers are consolidating rather than experimenting. Payment expansion alone does not guarantee growth, but checkout execution does.
WhatsApp shows the integration gap
WhatsApp is widely used for customer engagement. It is embedded in support and promotional flows. However, payment collection via WhatsApp remains limited.
Among retailers using WhatsApp for sales, 90.3% settle transactions via EFT invoices and only 16.7% use in-chat payment links.
The blockers are operational. Gateway integration challenges are cited by 38.8%, reconciliation by 29.9%, consumer trust concerns by 27.9%, and fraud and scams by 24.4%.
Conversational commerce generates demand, but closing the transaction cleanly remains harder. Retailers that solve integration and reconciliation within chat environments will unlock measurable upside.
Security is important but under-implemented
Security is rated “very important” by 91.0% of respondents, yet 64.7% are not using passkeys or biometric authentication and 91.5% are not considering them. Where passkeys are used, they rely primarily on email or mobile number authentication rather than fingerprint or facial recognition.
Retailers prioritise visible UX gains over back-end authentication innovation, which creates opportunity. Targeted deployment of low-friction authentication in high-risk flows can reduce fraud without increasing checkout complexity. Security should support conversion, not disrupt it.
Operational strain is lower but precision matters
Most core operations are described as “not challenging” by strong majorities. Payment failures are not challenging for 87.6% of respondents, refund management for 83.1%, and customer queries for 88.1%. Fraud detection remains the most persistent pain point, though still manageable for most, which once again reflects operational maturity.
The major gains will not come from solving systemic instability. They will come from incremental precision like reducing card declines, optimising retry logic, and making shipping costs predictable earlier in the journey. Remove redundant steps and let marginal improvements compound.
What ecommerce leaders should do next
- Audit your checkout from first click to payment confirmation. Count the steps, measure the time and remove friction aggressively.
- Surface shipping costs early. Unexpected fees drive abandonment but transparency increases completion.
- Reduce card declines through tighter gateway optimisation and smarter retry flows. A failed transaction at payment is a preventable loss.
- Integrate conversational channels properly. If you use WhatsApp for engagement, close the loop cleanly with integrated payment flows and reconciliation systems.
- Treat integration speed as a competitive advantage. The faster you deploy improvements, the faster you capture conversion gains.
Ecommerce growth in South Africa remains strong. The macro trend is favourable and infrastructure is stable. The retailers who win in 2026 will not win because they added another payment method. They will win because they made checkout effortless.