Takealot has increased its standard delivery fee and significantly increased the minimum threshold for orders to qualify for free delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Orders must now be a minimum of R650 to qualify for free delivery, up from R500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its standard delivery charge for non-qualifying orders has also increased from R70 to R75.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Same-day delivery will cost shoppers R95, while next-day delivery is R90 for orders below R650 and R75 for orders above the threshold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The change comes after Takealot.com reported its first profit<\/a> in the financial year that ended on 31 March 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Takealot Group CEO Frederik Zietsman said they are now poised for rapid growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “If you look at Takealot.com, we expanded our fixed cost base post-Covid, then we grew into that base last year, and we made a profit,” said Zietsman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He explained that this was the nature of the J-curve in e-commerce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zietsman said the principle behind the J-curve is that as a company recovers from its fixed-cost expenditures, it can start to grow rapidly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Zietsman, this is the phase that Takealot is currently in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “You need to incur fixed costs ahead of your revenue curve if you are in e-commerce. You expand your fixed cost base for the next 12\u201318 months, and then you grow into that base,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Takealot last increased its free delivery threshold from R450 to R500 on 1 August 2022. It also increased its standard delivery charge from R60 to R65 two years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before that, the last time Takealot made major changes<\/a> to its delivery thresholds was in March 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seven years ago, Takealot’s minimum threshold for free delivery was a mere R250, while standard shipping was R35.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When asked about the change at the time, Takealot assured that it would continue to offer free deliveries<\/a> for orders above a minimum threshold as long as it re<\/span>mained a valuable, sustainable offering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Takealot said at the time that it couldn’t keep its free order delivery threshold at R250 as it wouldn’t be sustainable without increasing its prices and delivery charges \u2014 neither of which it wanted to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “So the best option for our customers is to increase the qualifying minimum spend amount for every free delivery,” said Takealot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Making this change allows us to keep our prices low, delivery charges the same, and keeps our delivery options competitive with other South African online stores.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The following table from Takealot’s website<\/a> summarises its new delivery fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n