{"id":638626,"date":"2026-04-13T16:59:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T14:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=638626"},"modified":"2026-04-13T17:02:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T15:02:55","slug":"e-commerce-pioneer-wants-to-become-a-household-name-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/business\/638626-e-commerce-pioneer-wants-to-become-a-household-name-in-south-africa.html","title":{"rendered":"E-commerce pioneer wants to become a household name in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of South Africa’s leading e-commerce companies, Bob Group, launched a major marketing campaign to become a household name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company, formerly known as Bidorbuy, was founded in August 1999 by one of South Africa’s most respected e-commerce entrepreneurs, Andy Higgins, who still serves as its managing director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Higgins has evolved Bidorbuy from an online auction website with two employees to a multi-faceted e-commerce business with hundreds of staff under the Bob Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told MyBroadband he believes the e-commerce landscape in South Africa has reached a tipping point in terms of trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are seeing a more sophisticated user base that values security and reliability,” Higgins said. Capitalising on this, Bob Group kicked off a marketing effort in early March 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The campaign will include advertising on billboards, radio, and online platforms and represents a shift toward brand-level awareness rather than service-specific promotion of Bob Group’s four main divisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Instead of marketing individual tools or categories, we are focused on establishing the ‘Bob’ brand as a household name in the South African ecosystem,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our goal with the unified ‘Bob’ brand is to provide that sense of trust across the entire journey, from the moment a buyer clicks ‘purchase’ on Bob Shop to the moment the parcel is delivered via Bob Go,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This circular economy approach is becoming a mainstream way for consumers to supplement their income.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the year-to-date, Bob Group’s online marketplace Bob Shop recorded 40% higher gross merchandise values than in the same period in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was driven largely by a surge in consumer electronics, specifically cellphones and computers. “We have also noticed strong growth in local niche categories, such as coins and notes dealers,” Higgins said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Interestingly, the secondhand goods market continues to thrive as South Africans look to maximise value in a tight economy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Logistics division another strong grower \u2014 despite major spin-off<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Bob Box Smart Locker outside a KFC store<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Following a major rebranding exercise in 2023, Bidorbuy became Bob Shop and its courier aggregator division Bob Go. It also rolled out a payments platform, Bob Pay, and smart locker service, Bob Box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group supported the growth of one of South Africa’s largest integrated end-to-end courier logistics software firms, Shiplogic, for eight years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally part of uAfrica, which was rebranded to Bob Go, Shiplogic was merged into Bob Group in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shiplogic’s system is the brain behind real-time tracking, billing, and proactive customer updates at The Courier Guy, Takealot Fulfilment Solutions, Internet Express, MTE Express, and RAM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite being spun off into an independent company, its former parent Bob Go recorded 30% growth in the year-to-date, supported by more merchants seeking to streamline their fulfilment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Bob Go’s ability to aggregate multiple couriers has made it an indispensable tool for local e-commerce,” Higgins said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Higgins believes that Bob Group’s current growth could be attributed to a maturing local market and a “local is lekker” sentiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We theorise that disruptions in international supply chains and the rising costs of Chinese imports have nudged consumers back toward local platforms,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Higgins regards the biggest recent trend in the e-commerce industry to be the resilience of the “pre-loved” market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are seeing many new South Africans joining the platform not just to shop, but to sell,” Higgins explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One major hurdle that remains is logistics costs. “The increased cost of fuel has led to price hikes from couriers, which creates a ripple effect,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“These higher logistics costs directly impact our merchants’ margins and the final price paid by buyers, making it a constant balancing act to keep e-commerce affordable and accessible within South Africa.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Building on exceptional momentum for Bob Shop and Bob Go, the company formerly known as BidOrBuy is intensifying its marketing efforts to become a household name in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":640482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[28372,3636,91589,83651,81364,83649,83647,11165,10412],"class_list":["post-638626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-andy-higgins","tag-bidorbuy","tag-bob-box","tag-bob-go","tag-bob-group","tag-bob-pay","tag-bob-shop","tag-e-commerce","tag-online-shopping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638626"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638626"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":639688,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638626\/revisions\/639688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}