Best-rated online tech retailers in South Africa

Hellopeter and Trustpilot reviews show that Takealot is the top-rated technology retailer in South Africa. On the other end of the scale, Makro has the worst average rating.

MyBroadband compared eight online tech retailers — Bob Shop, Everyshop, Game, HiFi Corp, Incredible, Loot.co.za, Makro, and Takealot — using Hellopeter and Trustpilot reviews.

We selected these stores for the comparison as they all have a high number of votes from reviewers.

Discovery Bank’s SpendTrend24 report, compiled in collaboration with Visa, revealed that online spending is growing five times faster than in-store spending.

However, the report also revealed that many South Africans still enjoy visiting shopping malls to engage with items physically.

The war unfolding between brick-and-mortar stores and online marketplaces in South Africa means user experience is very important. It raises the question of which online retailers get it right.

Online retail giant Takealot is the best-rated on Hellopeter, scoring 2.20 out of five across 26,500 reviews. However, its Trustpilot rating was the lowest of the lot at 1.50 out of five across nearly 800 reviews.

JD Group’s Everyshop has the next-highest rating on Hellopeter, at 1.96 stars across 212 reviews. It also had the second-highest rating on Trustpilot, but its rating only comprised two votes.

JD Group’s Incredible Connection and HiFi Corp scored 1.46 and 1.44 out of five on Hellopeter. HiFi Corp was the most reviewed of the JD Group-owned retailers with 3,903 reviews, followed by Incredible with 3,777.

HiFi Corp is unrated on Trustpilot. However, Incredible scored 3.50 out of five on the platform.

Makro is the lowest-rated of the eight stores on Hellopeter and Trustpilot. It scored 1.35 out of five across 17,761 Hellopeter reviews and 1.30 out of five across 236 reviews on Trustpilot. Many of the negative reviews are recent.

The table below compares the eight online tech retailers’ Hellopeter and Trustpilot review ratings.