Specialist kitchen and homeware supplier Yuppiechef has been named South Africa’s Online Retailer of the Year.

World Wide Worx, Platinum Seed and Visa, in conjunction with the Ecommerce Forum of Africa and Heavy Chef, announced the winners of the Online Retailer of the Year awards, which honour online stores in South Africa that grow trust amongst digital shoppers, at an event in Cape Town today. The awards are part of a broader project to boost online shopping in this country and thereby contribute to the economic growth of South Africa.

“The Online Retail In South Africa 2019 research report released this week shows that retail ecommerce in SA is about to go mainstream,” says Bradley Elliott, founder of Platinum Seed, and co-author of the report. “Online retail will pass the R14 billion mark by the end of this year, commanding 1.4% of total retail. This growth is due in part to massive investments in online retail, aggressive marketing, and the rapid uptake of new shopping channels like mobile shopping and Instagram.”

“The good news is that online retail is growing in SA at higher-than-expected rates, exceeding the growth rate of SA retail overall,” says Arthur Goldstuck, managing director of World Wide Worx and principal analyst on the project. “Online retail in SA is likely to reach the psychological barrier of 2% of total retail in the next few years, which generally indicates that the sector will start snowballing, as seen in other developing economies.”

Says Elliott, “With the Online Retailer of the Year awards we want to recognise those ecommerce operations that have helped to grow the entire sector by engendering trust with online shoppers. Research clearly illustrates that trust and customer centricity are the two biggest factors in growing ecommerce in emerging economies.

“Building consumer trust will inevitably lead to growth in the online retail sector.”

The winners of SA’s Online Retailer of The Year are:

2nd Runner-Up: A joint award is made to Woolworths & NetFlorist
1st Runner-Up: Clever Little Monkey
Emerging Retailer of the Year: KAMERS/Makers Online Marketplace
Online Retailer of the Year: Yuppiechef

The winners of the Online Retailer of the Year awards will be given a digital badge that the online store can display online. The winners will have bragging rights for a year — the next award will be made in 2019. The Ecommerce Forum of Africa [EFA] audited the awards.

Established to increase awareness, confidence and capability of the ecommerce industry in Africa, the EFA represents large and small eShop owners, brick and mortar stores that include ecommerce as part of their omnichannel strategy, as well as the service providers that support and grow online retail.

Judging criteria for the awards included trust, innovation, customer service, digital excellence, customer engagement, product excellence, and the online reputation of the digital store. Heavy Chef and Platinum Seed oversaw the judging of the awards. The Ecommerce Forum of Africa audited the award criteria and results.