South Africa's Largest Homegrown Platform Takealot Reports First Full-Year Profit: 'Ready to Take on Cross-Border E-commerce Rivals'

[Ebrun Original] On July 12th, South African e-commerce giant Takealot Group announced its first-ever full-year net profit since its founding for the fiscal year 2025/26, ending March 31, 2026. This milestone turnaround comes against the backdrop of international competitors like Amazon, SHEIN, and Temu entering the South African market, putting pressure on the market share of local platforms.

During the reporting period, Takealot Group's operating revenue grew 18% year-on-year to ZAR 17.7 billion, approximately USD 1 billion. On an adjusted EBIT basis, the company swung from a loss of ZAR 213 million in the previous fiscal year to a profit of ZAR 171 million.

As the core business segment, the Takealot.com online marketplace achieved an adjusted EBIT of ZAR 85 million this fiscal year. In addition to a 15% year-on-year increase in Gross Merchandise Value, the group also focused on cost optimization initiatives during the period, driving improved profitability.

Takealot remains optimistic about its future prospects. The group anticipates that profitability is expected to further strengthen with the continued growth of businesses such as the TakealotMore membership service and Takealot Fulfilment Systems.

The company also explicitly stated that, although its market share has declined from approximately 35% in 2020 to around 24% in 2025, it is confident in maintaining its leading position in the local e-commerce market and is prepared to compete with cross-border platforms like Amazon, Temu, and SHEIN.

Moving forward, the group plans to leverage its ecosystem built on over 6 million active users, enhance operational efficiency through more personalized shopping experiences, and continue to leverage its economies of scale. Business diversification will be a strategic direction for the group's future development, and the company will further expand into new business segments with higher profit margins and lower operating costs to strengthen its long-term competitiveness.

When discussing competition with cross-border platforms like Amazon, SHEIN, and Temu, Takealot Group CEO Frederik Zietsman stated that the company is not a 'competitor-centric' enterprise but consistently adheres to a 'consumer-centric' approach.

He said the company welcomes competition as it forces businesses to be more focused, disciplined, and continuously improve their operational capabilities. Zietsman noted that it is quite common in many global markets for local e-commerce platforms to lose some market share after the entry of international competitors, but these local platforms often still maintain a leading position in their respective markets. The Dutch e-commerce platform Bol.com is a typical example.

He believes that local companies usually possess deeper market insights and, having invested earlier in infrastructure, also have stronger economies of scale advantages. For Takealot, the company currently has approximately 300,000 square meters of fulfillment and warehousing space, which lays a solid foundation for future sustained growth and gives the company greater confidence in achieving long-term, sustainable profitability.

Notably, Takealot has also taken new steps in market expansion.

In April 2026, the platform reopened its channel for Chinese sellers. Unlike previous entry rules, this return comes with a more comprehensive rule system that explicitly prohibits entry through reselling models, aiming to screen genuine operating sellers and improve the overall product quality and operational standards of the platform. This move demonstrates that while responding to competition, Takealot is attempting to enhance the platform's differentiated competitiveness from the supply side.

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