e-commerce

South Africans love to shop, and more and more are doing it online, logging on to buy everything from books to wine to electronic equipment. Here's a roundup of the most popular SA shopping websites - and links for those who want to hunt down the lesser known ones.

South Africa is the fourth fastest growing digital economy in the world, according to the Digital Evolution Index. And significantly, all four of the African countries measured – South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Egypt – are fast moving towards digital evolution. This spells good news for e-commerce.

In a boost for local e-commerce, a new partnership between First National Bank and PayPal will enable South Africans to sell to PayPal's global customer base and move the proceeds to their qualifying FNB accounts - without having to share their personal or financial information online.

South African media giant Naspers has spent US$342-million (about R2.53-billion) on the acquisition of a 91% stake in BuscaPe, a Brazilian-based leading provider of e-commerce services in Latin America.