A Guide to Selling on Takealot
It’s no secret that eCommerce is booming in South Africa and around the world. According to Moneyweb, the South African eCommerce market has a whopping 20-35% growth rate, giving purely brick-and-mortar stores a serious run for their money.
Arguably, COVID-19 has been accelerating the growth of eCommerce in South Africa in 2020. The fact is, businesses really should be selling online. Takealot is an excellent way to break into the South African eCommerce space.
Takealot is South Africa’s leading online retailer, with over 1.5 million happy customers, 2000 sellers and hundreds of brands. Since its official launch in 2011, Takealot has grown exponentially, acquiring both Superbalist and Spree in the last few years.
Thanks to a customer-centric website, nation-wide pickup locations and door-to-door delivery, Takealot has become a household name in South Africa. ShoppingFeeder is here to help you learn how to sell on Takealot.
Here’s how to get started as a seller on Takealot
1. Log in to the Seller portal
You can find Takealot’s seller portal on their website.
You will need to fill in some information, including contact details. Please ensure that your information is correct and up to date. Once completed, you’ll be sent a confirmation email to the email address that you’ve just used.
Once you’ve registered, Takealot will send you an online storefront where you can display your products. Takealot will contact you within 10 business days to confirm your approval as a seller.
2. Add your products
The next step is to list the products you want to sell. At current, there is no limit to the number of products you can add here. You can add as many products as you’d like to.
For each listing/product, you’ll need to set a price. You should choose a price that is relatively affordable and allows you to make a profit on each product.
You will also need to allocate quantities to your product listing. This will help customers know how many items each listing contains. Some customers may buy in bulk and will rely on this information.
3. Ship your products
The next step is to get your products available for delivery. It is preferable to send your items directly to one of Takealot’s fulfilment centres so that once an order has been placed, shipping is almost instant and there are no unnecessary delays.
Takealot has over three large warehouses located in Cape Town, Kwa-Zulu Natal and Johannesburg, with a number of fulfilment centres and branches across South Africa to put this into perspective. This includes over 60 pick-up points that service orders and customers.
You are able to keep your items in your own warehouse and send products on demand, but this may be more time-consuming.
Once you’ve done this, it is the responsibility of Takealot to deliver the items successfully.
You should also know that payout on successful transactions is performed on a weekly basis.
4. Takealot Selling Fees
You should know that you are not charged for listing your items on Takealot, but you will incur charges to your seller account.
Takealot charges a R300 monthly subscription fee for each account that you hold with them. You are also liable for ‘Success fees’, which over referral fees, transactions and any platform-related charges, including customer support.
If one of your items is returned, you will be credited. If you make a sale, Takealot will calculate their fees based on a percentage of the VAT and selling price of each item in a certain category.
You can find information about the specific percentages for each category on Takealot’s website.
In addition, you’ll need to pay fulfilment fees for items shipped from Takealot warehouses.
You are also responsible for storage fees if your inventory doesn’t sell within 35 days. These costs will depend on the size of your products, as well as the length of time that you need storage without selling off your products.
Conclusion
Finally, now that you have know how to get started with selling on Takealot, there is nothing to stop you from cashing in.
Remember that your prices should be less than or equal to prices from a brick-and-mortar store. As a general rule, if you provide your customers with quality products, you can be sure many referrals will come your way because positive customer reviews can make an astronomical difference.
You should also know that ShoppingFeeder can help you set up your Takealot product feed easily if you don’t want to go through every step on your own.
Sources:
Returning my Takealot order – This is how all shops should work
Here is how much money Takealot makes
Adapted from original article by Merryn Haller
