How much shoppers must spend to get free delivery — 20 South African stores compared

Most prominent online stores in South Africa charge between R50 and R80 for standard deliveries under a set order value, an analysis by MyBroadband has shown.

We compared delivery fees from more than 20 online stores in South Africa, covering a wide range of business types and products.

From our selection of stores, we also found that free delivery was typically available on orders with values of R500 or more.

Only two stores charged nothing for standard local delivery — iStore and Chinese e-commerce giant Temu. However, Temu does charge for international shipping.

Woolworths Online (not including Dash) also had a low-cost Value option for just R25, while Bob Shop’s fee of R30 for orders over R100 in value was also a standout.

South Africa’s most popular online retailer — Takealot — charges a R70 standard fee for delivery on orders with values less than R500.

For a long time after its launch, Takealot charged R35 for delivery and had a free delivery threshold of R250.

In August 2016, it nearly doubled the standard delivery fee to R60 and increased the threshold to R450.

That jump makes the respective R10 and R50 increases added to these amounts over the past eight years seem negligible.

Massmart, a major brick-and-mortar retail group that has increasingly focused on its e-commerce presence in recent years charges R50 for standard delivery from its Makro and Game stores.

Game has a lower threshold for free deliveries — R450 — while Makro’s is R500.

Several retailers were excluded from our comparison because they charge custom fees based on the weight and dimensions of ordered products.

These include specialist PC hardware stores like Dreamware Tech, Evetech, and Wootware.

This is likely because the couriers they use have varying pricing based on the volumetric weight of packages.

DIY stores like Builders and Leroy Merlin also have variable delivery charges depending on the item ordered.

These retailers have numerous products that are very large or have “uncomfortable” dimensions that make them difficult to fit into delivery vehicles.

Therefore, they might require a dedicated team or larger truck to transport.

The table below compares the standard delivery fees and minimum spend for free delivery on 23 online stores in South Africa.

It is important to note that some fees might vary depending on your chosen delivery location and distance to a warehouse or store. Generally, the fees in the table are relevant to metros and larger towns.