South African online sellers polled by the Insaka eCommerce Academy favour PayFast when it comes to selecting a payment gateway. They rate The Courier Guy for local deliveries and DHL Express for international customers. They overwhelmingly make use of uAfrica when it comes to order fulfilment software and Mailchimp for email marketing. And, when they are looking for a business banking offering, they most frequently turn to FNB.

This is according to the newly released Insaka eCommerce Playbook, which reflects insights into how South African e-commerce companies set up and run their businesses.

According to the Insaka eCommerce Academy, the playbook was created with input from the organisation’s 14000-strong community and is the first and only directory of e-commerce services and software in South Africa based on input from companies at the coal-face of the industry.

The Playbook directory was created by Insaka founder Warrick Kernes and is described as an essential guide and reference point for established sellers keen to keep up with industry trends and the supplier choices being made by others in the growing e-commerce sector.

“This is exactly the objective tool I wanted to produce, one based on objective voting and offering all the answers online sellers are looking for, from which distribution and accounting systems to use, to the best marketplaces, banking options and drop shipping apps,” says Kernes, who admits to finding some of the responses and weightings surprising.

“I was pleased to see both PayFast and uAfrica coming through strongly in the results, as I have personally made use of both their services over the years,” says Kernes. “Similarly it was interesting, but not entirely surprising, that the majority of respondents recommended building your own e-commerce website rather than opting for the services of a developer.”

Kernes adds: “The use of social media schedulers was also noteworthy, with Hootsuite dominating ahead of Later and Buffer. While Wave, as a preferred – and free - accounting system, was also a strong favourite; and one that is ideal for a start-up’s needs.”

Insaka intends to update the Playbook once a year and believes its strength is that it is based on true and unbiased recommendations from those in the eCommerce community.

“It is a collective view, not a subjective view; which makes it more democratic,” says Kernes. “This is a true reflection of the choices the eCommerce community in South Africa is making.”