Publications
Partners
- Takealot has twice the number of e-commerce-related jobs as Amazon in South Africa.
- Amazon is set to launch a South African marketplace next year.
- IT salary offers have decreased by 10% in South Africa over the last year, according to a report.
- For more stories, visit the Tech and Trends homepage.
Takealot has more than double the e-commerce-related job listings that Amazon has in South Africa.
There are 45 South African positions listed on the Amazon jobs portal, but 22 of these are for positions at Amazon Web Services (AWS), which has a separate business case to the company's e-commerce operations.
One position relates to Amazon Prime Video, meaning that the remaining 22 are related to the broader e-commerce work.
Meanwhile, on the Takealot jobs portal, 47 jobs are listed and they relate to information technology, logistics, marketing, human relations and support fields.
Naspers-owned Takealot began operating in 2011 and has since grown to be the largest e-commerce operator in the country.
But, global e-commerce giant Amazon will start competing in the South African market next year.
READ MORE | Amazon to launch SA marketplace in 2024, sellers can register from today
In October, the company announced that it would launch a local marketplace in South Africa, Amazon.co.za, in 2024.
Amazon has been running AWS in South Africa since 2020, and the launch of a marketplace designated for South Africa is much anticipated.
The company has not specified when in 2024 the marketplace will be launching, but South African sellers can already register to sell, and Amazon has revealed some of the terms and conditions.
READ MORE | Amazon throws 'cheap' shot before battle with Takealot, local retailers
When the launch was announced, experts said Amazon would bring big competition for Takealot.
FNB portfolio manager Wayne McCurrie said it could take Amazon a while to get its distribution network up to speed, but its entry into the market would be good for South African businesses and consumers.
"Obviously, this is good news. It is good news for South African businesses that you can put your product in such a huge database," he said.
But Casparus Treurnicht, portfolio manager at Gryphon Asset Management said Amazon's global e-commerce experience could spell trouble for Takealot.
"They (Amazon) have all the experience in the world. They have been doing it longer than Takealot. They have been doing it at a scale that no one has ever achieved," he said.
In response to questions from News24, Takealot said it thought the competition from Amazon was healthy.
State of tech jobs
There was a 2% decrease in hiring in the IT sector in the three months before Amazon announced its marketplace launch over the period from July to September compared to the three months before that.
This is according to the CareerJunction employment insights report, which was published in October 2023.
IT jobs are among the best paid in the country.
Seven of the top 20 jobs identified as the highest paying in South Africa are in the IT sector.
The report showed that there was a 10% decline in salary offers in the IT industry over the last 12 months.
