STAATSKOERANT, 24 JANUARIE 2014
No. 37261
providers and data controllers, or information officers, comply with the relevant provisions of
the ECTA.
3.4.2 Growth and Outlook of the commerce market
E-commerce in South Africa has grown significantly in the past several years with reports
showing that in 2010 alone, R2 billion was spent in online shopping and in 2011 the number
was targeted to reach R2.8 billion, a 30% increase.
South Africa is considered a leader in e-Commerce development in Africa. Based on a
survey conducted by MasterCard, South Africa takes the lead in terms of the 54% of
respondents who say that they usually use the internet for online shopping. This percentage
is twice the regional average.
However, in comparison with developed markets such as the UK, USA and South Korea,
South Africa has a long way to go in the development of its e-commerce sector. Amongst
other factors, South Africa is lagging behind in terms of internet penetration, delivery
infrastructure, competitive retail market and credit card usage.
The internet is changing the way business and trade is carried out, by moving it from the
physical environment to an electronic one. Rapid increases in internet access and
penetration around the world, will enable further developments in the e-commerce arena.
The figure below illustrates this point.
Forecast of E-commerce Sales (B2C)
USD mn
2012
22%
2016
708
12%
% CAGR
580
11%
388
373
316
256
40
Asia-Pacific
USA
Western Europe
22%
17%
14%
69
Central and
Eastern Europe
38
Latin America
21
45
Middle East
and Africa
Source: Statista 2013
'Source: Statista 2013
Building trust and confidence in the ICT infrastructure is pivotal for an emerging online
marketplace. The promotion of trust and confidence depends on a number of factors that
include the application of information security standards, definition of cybersecurity
organisations and education of society as a whole, from internet professionals to ordinary
internet users.
A cybercrime prevention framework, which tackles two types of cybercrime offences is vital
to deal with cybersecurity threats and attacks. The framework must address both the new
forms of offences which include illegal access, illegal interception, misuse of devices and the
old forms of offences, which include computer-related forgery, fraud, child pornography etc.
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