The opportunities for local stores on South Africa’s Takealot are very real. Chinese sellers account for less than 3% of the total; the platform is actively recruiting merchants; and local stores have conversion rates 20% to 30% higher than cross-border stores… All of these figures are accurate and have not been exaggerated.

However, every market has its barriers to entry. There are a few pitfalls that many sellers looking to enter the market don’t fully consider during the consultation phase. Before you decide to take the plunge, we hope you’ll read this article first.

Anyone who sells on Amazon knows just how much advertising costs have risen since 2023. Anyone dealing with European VAT knows that a single tax issue you can’t figure out can leave you completely exhausted. And everyone selling in Southeast Asia is asking: Where has all the traffic gone?

It’s not that we can’t do business in Europe and the U.S. anymore; it’s that it’s getting harder and harder to make money there, yet many people are still stuck in their old ways, unwilling to look up and see if there are other options.

If you’ve been in the cross-border e-commerce scene long enough, you’ve probably heard plenty of talk about ”new blue oceans.” Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America… Every so often, someone steps forward to claim that a certain market is about to explode. Most of the time, the ones shouting the loudest are the first to run, and very few actually stick around to make money.

So when someone tells you, ”Go to South Africa and start a Takealot,” your first thought is probably: “This isn’t just another concept, is it?”

This article doesn't discuss concepts—it focuses solely on data. Here are five sets of real data; after reading them, you can draw your own conclusions.

如果你在卖家群里问”怎么做Takealot”，八成会有人告诉你：”先开个跨境店试试，不用注册公司”。

这句话本身没有错——但只说了一半。如果你想长期做、认真做，跨境店不是终点，只是起点。而起点再往前走一步，就绕不开”注册南非公司”这事。

Are you also torn between testing the waters with a cross-border store first or launching a domestic store right away? This question comes up almost every day in seller groups. The answer isn’t based on gut feeling—it’s based on data.