On May 5, 2026, Premier Li Qiang signed State Council Decree No. 837, and the “State Council Regulations on Foreign Investment” were officially promulgated and will take effect on July 1, 2026.

Both sellers are involved in cross-border e-commerce on platforms such as Amazon and TikTok, and their business models are strikingly similar:
Purchases on 1688 without invoices → Paying for exports → Platform proceeds deposited into a personal bank account → Company files a zero tax return or underreports taxes

Lately, many sellers have been asking:

“Can South Africa really pull this off?”
“Do Takealot’s brick-and-mortar stores actually make a profit?”
“I’m Chinese—I don’t have any resources or connections. Can I really do this?”

Instead of answering them one by one, I’ve compiled a list of the 10 questions everyone is most interested in.

If you’ve been in cross-border e-commerce for more than two years, you’ve probably noticed this: Amazon is getting harder and harder to navigate. Ad bid prices have doubled, compliance requirements are getting stricter, and price wars have squeezed profits down to just a few percentage points. Temu and Shein have siphoned off the traffic. Small sellers can’t even see the tail lights. Southeast Asia? The profit margins are as thin as a razor blade.

So are there still any markets with low competition, high profits, and barriers to entry that haven’t been completely broken down yet?

The answer is: South Africa. And the gateway to South Africa’s e-commerce market is called Takealot.

. South Africa is Africa’s second-largest economy and one of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets. According to Statista data, the South African e-commerce market is projected to reach $7.5 billion in 2025, representing year-over-year growth of 18.6%; it is expected to exceed $10 billion by 2027. Among these, Takealot remains South Africa’s largest general-merchandise e-commerce platform, with a market share exceeding 50%.

For cross-border sellers looking to expand into the African market, Takealot is not only a sales channel but also a litmus test for their capabilities in cross-border logistics, tax compliance, and foreign exchange settlement.

As the platform with the highest e-commerce penetration rate in Africa, Takealot is rapidly emerging as a new “profit hub.”