Projections show that by 2021 there will be nearly 25 million online shoppers in South Africa, and it's expected that they will spend in the region of 190 U.S. dollars each by 2023. Currently, those shoppers are spending 95 dollars each in the electronics and media sectors. Angelo Coppola has a look at what's happening in the rest of Africa.

South African online shopping growth has increased annually, at 20%, but the retail component of that is still only 1.4 per cent.

ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK FOUNDER, WORLDWIDE WORX "The rest of its far lower than that. The only real hot spots are Egypt, Nigeria and Kenya. Kenya is probably the most sophisticated in terms of platforms, and also the integration of M-Pesa for mobile payments has been a big boost in Kenya. Nigeria probably has the biggest online retail operation, in terms of its potential, which is jumia, that has a in fact been listed on one of the US stock exchanges."

The opportunities for growth in online retail shopping is confined to specific areas.

ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK FOUNDER, WORLDWIDE WORX "Cities like LAGOS and Nairobi are definitely ready for online shopping. They have extensive online services available in those markets, and that is because the infrastructure's there. The communication is there, banks are there as well. Although online retail is supposed to be digital, it is very much facilitated by the existence of physical infrastructure like transport networks, the roads, delivery services, and banking services."

Looking at the South African online shopping market, data is fairly accurate. Similar information isn't available continentally.

ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK FOUNDER, WORLDWIDE WORX "At this stage we can't really see the percentage of impact of retail is making outside of South Africa. In South Africa we have an exact number of Worldwideworx conducted research that showed that 1.4% of total retail in South Africa is conducted online. The total retail market in South Africa is just over one trillion rand, and online retail makes up about 14 billion rand of that."

The retail shopping environment is different in each of the continent's countries.

ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK FOUNDER, WORLDWIDE WORX "The difference between South Africa and other markets across Africa is that there's a very powerful mall culture of people going to shopping malls to do their shopping. That is what's keeping online retail making a bigger impact on this economy. Other African markets however you don't have that extensive mall culture or a mall infrastructure."

ANGELO COPPOLA JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA "The growth of retail online shopping is patchy at the best of times, on the continent, largely dependent on sufficient infrastructure and access to payment options. And of course the most important, disposable income. I'm Angelo Coppola for CGTN in JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA."