South Africa’s e-commerce sector is booming. The market is on track to surpass R130 billion in turnover this year. Local online sales are growing at roughly 20% and the sector handles over 100 million shipments annually. According to World Wide Worx, online shopping now represents 8% to 10% of total national retail – expanding at nearly ten times the rate of traditional brick-and-mortar stores.
But the uncomfortable truth is that while revenue is rising, profit margins are shrinking.
The problem isn’t marketing
When profits come under pressure, most merchants reach for the same playbook. They spend more on ads, push harder on sales, or negotiate lower product costs, rarely looking in the right place. The real profit drain doesn’t happen in marketing. It happens silently in fulfilment and last mile delivery. Margin loss is a death by a thousand cuts, from small, hidden inefficiencies spread across delivery networks, fuel surcharges, poor courier choices, and unexamined invoices.
If you want to protect your margins, you need to stop these seven main profit leaks.
