The man behind South Africa’s biggest online shopping success

Seasoned financeman and business executive Kim Reid is the mastermind behind Takealot.com, South Africa’s biggest online store.

Takealot.com was born out of the acquisition of online retailer Take2, which was launched by seven investors in Cape Town in 2002.

These investors included the trio of Neil Smith, Waine Smith, and Jose Pereira, who would later roll out Raru.co.za as a new competitor to Takealot. Unfortunately, Raru went bankrupt in 2022.

Reid’s leadership at Takealot and his ability to get parent Naspers and other investors onboard with the venture would see the company transformed into an e-commerce behemoth.

Reid was born in Pretoria in January 1970 and studied at the University of Pretoria and Unisa, acquiring a BCom Honours degree and Certificate in Accounting Theory.

He completed his articles at the auditing firm KPMG between 1994 and 1996 and passed his Board exams to become a Chartered Accountant.

Thereafter, Reid was appointed financial manager of The Gary Player Group before joining Sony Music as financial director from 1998 to 2000.

His next career move would be key to his role in shaping South Africa’s e-commerce space.

In 2000, he became MultiChoice’s chief financial officer. At that time, the company was still part of Naspers subsidiary MIH Group.

In July 2003, he was appointed chief executive officer (CEO) of Internet service provider Mweb, which was also owned by Naspers at the time.

He moved on to the position of CEO at MIH Mobile TV Platforms in November 2006 and then at MIH Internet Africa two years later.

At that time, MIH Internet Africa included the Kalahari.com online store, founded in 1998 by John Relihan.

Cognisant of his experience in South Africa’s Internet evolution and e-commerce, Tiger Global Management approached Reid about acquiring Take 2 while he was taking a break from the corporate world.

The transaction was completed in October 2010, and Reid was appointed CEO of the rebranded Takealot.com, which was officially launched in June 2011.

Serving as its CEO for a decade, Reid gradually took the online store to the top of the South African e-commerce industry.

Reid’s leadership saw Takealot’s annual turnover overshoot an initial target of R1 billion over five years. Between 2011 and 2016, the company’s turnover increased from R50 million to R2.5 billion.

That came after Takealot acquired two major e-commerce players in 2014 — Mr Delivery, which it rebranded to Mr D, and Superbalist.

Another key part of Takealot’s success was its merging with Kalahari.com in 2015.

Despite Kalahari’s strong recognisability in South African e-commerce and a 13-year headstart, Takealot.com’s traffic had surpassed it by January 2015.

Considering Takealot.com’s momentum, Naspers elected to shut down Kalahari and shift resources towards Takealot.

Naspers gradually increased its shareholding in Takealot and has owned over 96% of the company since 2018.

By 2016, Takealot had grown its warehousing and call centre staff to 1,200 employees, and by 2019, it was shipping an average of 35,000 orders per day and 80,000 on peak order days. It also contracted about 4,500 delivery drivers.

This impressive performance was before the explosion of online shopping in South Africa during the lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Reid’s tenure as CEO came to a surprising end in 2021, when he stepped down as part of the company’s transformation goals.

He was replaced with Manongae Mahlare and appointed Takealot Group chairman.

Reid still serves on the Takealot Group board as director and strategic advisor to Mahlare, who was reshuffled into the role of Takealot Group executive chair and replaced with Frederik Zietsman in January 2024.

In its last financial year, the Takealot Group reported revenue of R14.75 billion, and Zietsman revealed Takealot.com had achieved profitability for the first time.

While 13 years might seem like a long period for a business to break even, it is worthwhile to note that it took Amazon.com nine years to reach profitability.

In 2024, Takealot operates three large distribution centres, 77 pickup points, and employs around 5,000 people.

Aside from selling directly to shoppers, Takealot’s marketplace hosts over 10,500 active third-party sellers, providing a wide range of products at highly competitive prices.