Research and reports: online payments industry

Like so many other parts of the economy, gaming and sports betting in South Africa are being transformed by the growing adoption of online platforms - which saw a large surge during the pandemic. Some forecasts indicate that the online sports betting market will be worth $350.5 million by 2028, with 3.6 million users.

We wanted to understand how South Africans view gaming and sports betting, what they look for when choosing a platform and how they prefer to make deposits or withdraw funds. We surveyed more than 300 respondents to provide an up-to-date perspective on the online gaming market in South Africa.

Download our report to view our findings below.

As the travel sector grows in South Africa, consumers looking to travel more frequently, for both business and leisure. We conducted a survey of over 300 South Africans across a range of age and income cohorts to understand their perspective on online travel booking, including their plans for future travel, how they choose a booking platform, how they prefer to pay and what they expect from the travel experience.

What are the most popular booking platforms across all travel booking needs? How much are consumers spending on travel booking? What do consumers look for when choosing a booking platform?

Download our full 2024 travel sector report for more.

The payments landscape in South Africa is going through a period of rapid change, with new digital payment methods rising to prominence and a traditionally cash-based economy growing increasingly open to alternative ways to shop and pay.

No one can say for certain where things will go from here, but it is helpful to understand where we’ve come from and what the current landscape looks like.

We’ve created this overview of the payments ecosystem in South Africa, covering the history and current state of the landscape, as well as a glossary of key terms.

South Africa’s subscription economy was worth $530M in 2022, and it's predicted to grow 14% per year to reach $820M by 2025. One of the biggest challenges these businesses face is managing consistent, fail-free recurring payments from their customers.

Here, we’ve outlined four ways subscription-based businesses can optimise collection rates and recurring payments processes.

In South Africa today, cash transactions still represent an overwhelming majority. Even though the banked population technically surpasses 85%, many still take out cash on a regular basis to conduct their daily transactions.

We recently surveyed consumers across South Africa that prefer to conduct transactions with cash to better understand their reasons for choosing this method and whether the ability to pay in cash would influence their adoption of digital solutions.

Download our 2023 cash report for more.

From startup founders launching a business in South Africa for the first time, to scale-ups evaluating South Africa as their next market, to pan-African and global enterprises taking advantage of the market opportunity – a great understanding of the South African landscape is an essential first step in going to market.

The Stitch Launching a Business in South Africa Guide can be a helpful resource on this journey, alongside the South Africa Investment Guide from Briter Bridges and GIZ Make-IT in Africa, where you can find additional information on fundraising, the investment landscape and an investor directory.