According to marketingpilgrim.com, the US online retail spend will reach just under $300 billion this year alone so it would be interesting to understand how the South African online retail environment fairs against global statistics. Evolution or revolution of the retail environment is one of the most dynamic industries affecting almost anyone who knows how to turn a computer on.

Statistics gathered from over 116,000 respondents during the 2014 South African eCommerce Awards survey show that 73% of respondents spend their hard earned money on Books, DVD's, Games and Music when shopping online and 49% of these consumers tend to visit the same site for repeat purchases. 31% of respondents make more than 10 purchases a year with 49% of these consumers spending between R250 – R500 per basket.

Clearly, South Africa's online purchasing is growing exponentially and at this year's eCommerce Conference, to be held on the 4thSeptember 2014 at Gallagher Convention Centre, we can expect to hear the results of online shopping trends and online consumer purchasing behaviours, as well as gain significant insight into the types of products being purchased, how much our local market is spending online, and an understanding of how industry leaders expect these figures to move over the next year and beyond.

Aside from announcing the results of uAfrica.com's research survey, conducted, during the 2nd and 3rd quarters of this year, Luke Mckend who is currently the Country Director for Google South Africa will be discussing 'Africa as a mobile first continent.'  Among other industry leaders is one of the International Key Note Speakers, Brennan Loh, Head of Business Development at Shopify. Hailing from Ottawa, Canada, Loh manages Shopify's strategic channel partners as well as the company's network of global resellers and will be discussing The Future of Online Retail' - Shopify explores new technologies in retail from an International perspective.

The purpose of the eCommerce conference is to help SME's understand the dynamic of the online retail environments, inform and educate the delegates about the current 'buzz' word, omnichannel retail and enable these business owners to effectively manage their businesses online.

"We also want to be able to provide these business owners with tools to help improve online purchase processes, inventory management applications and how to make technology work for them, as well as help with business growth and sustainability suggestions based on our survey findings. The 2014 eCommerce Award winners will also be announced at the conference," said Andy Higgins, Managing Director of uAfrica.com