Last week was the Connect Summit 2019 which was held in Joburg on Tuesday and again in Cape Town on Thursday. The speaker line up included speakers from Shopify, PayFast, Insaka, Bid or Buy and more… 

Following the event, we’ve engaged with many of the attendees to find out their best take away lessons from the event. We’ve summarized the Top 5 Lessons below: 

1) eCommerce in SA is booming!

If any of the attendees were uncertain of the future of eCommerce in South Africa, by the end of the event they had been bombarded with stats and success stories so that they knew for sure that if they hadn’t yet started building their eCom business, they had better start now before they were left behind. 

2) Trust is key to success 

Many of the presentations mentioned or referred to the dire need for website owners to ensure that their website had as many trust factors as possible. This is for customers who are landing on your site for the first time and aren’t sure if they can trust your site. More trust factors will bring in more sales.

3) Starting an online store is easier today than ever before 

With website building platforms like Shopify and service integrations which take a lot of the hassle off your hands, it really is easier than ever before to launch and grow your own eCommerce business in South Africa. You ought to use and leverage all of these great services to streamline your business and allow you to scale quickly. 

4) Marketing is essential for success 

Some online businesses have a mentality that if they build a great site then people will just find the site and buy from them. This is however far from the truth and the only way to drive sales and to create a sustainable business is through a solid digital marketing strategy. 

5) The customer isn’t always king but they should be treated that way

Even in a market full of competition, SME businesses can still create a sustainable competitive advantage by focusing on delivering excellent product expertise and customer service. This is why a customer will choose to shop with your SME online store instead of a big competitor.