Figures released recently indicate that online shoppers in South Africa have now spent almost R1 billion shopping online. This figure could easily be greater but for a couple of factors. Firstly, not a large percentage of the South African population has access to internet and from my own personal experiences, one needs a fast and reliable internet connection to effectively shop online. Most online shopping websites are highly technical and one can spend hours just trying to purchase one product if you do not have a fast internet connection. But I’m glad to see that the South African internet market is trying to catch up to international standards and we are seeing faster and cheaper internet connectivity options available on the market today.

The second reason for not having greater online shopping figures is due to fear of ‘someone’ stealing your credit card information. On some websites shopping online is as simple as just entering the name on a credit card and the credit card number. Many people feel that this is too easy and do not feel safe just entering their credit card number on a website. I guess it will take time for South Africans to feel comfortable in using their credit card online.Another reason for not shopping online is due to access to a credit card. Many South African’s do not have a credit card and the only way you can shop online is with a credit card. This now brings into play the benefit of the prepaid credit card mentioned on this website in a previous post. If one has a prepaid credit card then they are able to shop online.

One tip if you are using your credit card online : Make sure that in the address bar of the website where the address of the website is, there is an https in front of the name as opposed to the http we usually see on normal website names. The difference is in the ‘s’ in the end, this stands for ‘secure’ and means that the website you are entering your credit card information is secure.

South Africans should start to do more shopping online, I think buying airplanes tickets online has now become normal for South African’s, why not take it a step further and start buying clothes, groceries, gifts and even houses online.

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