Cape Town — Recent research confirms that this will be South Africa's first "e-Christmas", with people shopping online for festive season gifts on a large scale. The prediction is that online retailers will have generated around R200 million by the time stores close for Christmas this year.

And the most popular item on sale on the Internet? Satellite navigation systems for cars. So says research conducted separately by independent technology market researchers World Wide Worx and the shopping search site Jump Shopping.

"We expect the holiday season to contribute to at least 20% of the total R929 million expected to be spent online in 2007, with the proportion possible rising to as much as 25%" says World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck.

Gary Hadfield, CEO of online retailer kalahari.net, agrees. "Online retail in South Africa is experiencing continuous growth and the biggest retail sites have grown phenomenally when it comes to improving efficiency. Combine this with the penetration of broadband and online retail is set for major growth in the next few years," says Hadfield. Kalahari.net recently won the Jump Shopping awards for best e-commerce store, best online book store and best jewellery and watch store.

Study of Internet shopping

World Wide Worx's study of Internet shopping, "Online Retail in South Africa 2007", confirms that consumers are beginning to gain confidence in online gift shopping.

"While it is clear that books, DVDs, CDs and electronics like iPods and satellite navigation devices are hot online this month, it depends on the quality of online retail sites which stores and items benefit the most."

That's where the search engines play a role. Major search sites like Google and Ananzi will be the starting point for many shoppers, who will then often find themselves on specialised shopping search sites like Jump Shopping (www.jump.co.za).

"We can already see which products are generating the most heat through the searches on our site," says Jump Shopping MD Albert Bredenhann.