The man who started Takealot and made it an eCommerce giant

Kim Reid started Takealot in June 2011 in partnership with US-based investment firm Tiger Global Management and has grown it into an eCommerce powerhouse.

Reid was born in Pretoria in January 1970 and completed a BCom degree at the University of Pretoria and a BCom Honours at Unisa.

After completing his articles at KPMG and becoming a chartered accountant, he served in senior financial roles at The Gary Player Group and Sony Music.

In 2000, he joined MultiChoice as its chief financial officer. At that time, the company was still part of Naspers subsidiary MIH Group.

He then moved to the Internet space, running Naspers-owned MWEB and MIH Internet Africa as chief executive.

At that time, MIH Internet Africa included the Kalahari.com online store, founded in 1998 by John Relihan.

He built a reputation as a competent and get-things-done executive at Naspers and helped the company with many successful enterprises.

However, he left Naspers to launch South Africa’s largest online shopping portal and eCommerce platform.

He joined forces with Tiger Global Management to acquire the South African online shopping platform Take2 in October 2010.

They used this platform to launch Takealot.com in June 2011, competing directly against Naspers’ Kalahari.com in the local online shopping market.

Reid served as Takealot’s chief executive since its inception and helped Takealot become the dominant eCommerce retailer in South Africa.

2014 was a pivotal year for Takealot. It received a $100 million investment from Tiger Global and acquired Mr Delivery and Superbalist.com.

Owning Mr Delivery gave Takealot its own logistics network, differentiating itself from its competitors and giving it a big advantage.

The biggest development in Takealot’s life came in 2015 when it merged its business with Naspers’ Kalahari.com.

This merger created Africa’s premier online shopping destination and laid the foundation for rapid growth.

Naspers increased its investment in Takealot to 96% in 2018 and merged Superbalist.com and Spree.

In 2021, Reid stepped down as Takealot CEO to become Takealot Group chairman, overseeing Takealot.com, Mr D Food, and Superbalist.

Under his leadership, Takealot dominated the South African eCommerce market and became the ‘Amazon of South Africa’.

Reid’s new position

On 1 August 2022, Reid was appointed as the chief executive of Blue Lake Ventures Group (BLV Group), which owns KingMakers.

KingMakers, headquartered in Nigeria, specialises in sports betting and entertainment and has ambitions to expand throughout Africa.

MultiChoice said sports betting is a natural extension of its video entertainment platform, further enhancing its product set.

“The global sports betting market is experiencing a growth surge. Africa comprises only 2% of global sports betting revenue and is poised for significant momentum as it plays catch-up,” it said.

It added that KingMakers is particularly well-positioned to capture a large share of the African growth opportunity.

It will also benefit from SuperSport’s strong brand and reach across the continent and MultiChoice’s regional presence and acumen.

Reid’s appointment as CEO of BLV Group is not surprising, considering his previous position at MultiChoice.

In November 2020, MultiChoice announced it was buying a 20% stake in Africa-focused sports-betting platform BetKing for R1.8 billion. BetKing later changed its name to KingMakers.

MultiChoice doubled down on its investment last year by increasing its stake in the betting platform from 20% to 49% for R4 billion.

The company has been struggling to live up to its promise, and MultiChoice was looking for a trusted hand to oversee its multi-billion investment.

As a former MultiChoice and Naspers executive, Reid was an obvious choice.

Takealot today

When Reid was in charge, Takealot was on track to turn a profit. Between 2019 and 2021, Takealot significantly reduced its losses.

It gave the market confidence that Takealot would reach profitability in the 2022 financial year. However, this did not happen.

After Reid stepped down as chief executive, costs started to escalate, and the eCommerce giant faced significant headwinds.

It had to deal with increased competition from international giants Temu, Shein, and Amazon and faced a slow-growing macroeconomic environment.

It sold its online apparel and footwear retailer Superbalist, which Naspers said would accelerate Takealot group’s path to profitability.

Despite these headwinds, Takealot saw 11% revenue growth and gross merchandise value (GMV) growth.

It continued to gain market share in general merchandise, and Mr D grew its revenue by 12% to R1.05 billion.

In recent months, the group has also launched its TakealotMore loyalty programme, and Mr D has concentrated efforts on accelerating the growth of the grocery business.

“Recent trends show a meaningful pick-up in growth as the leadership team makes improvements to the business,” Naspers said.

Reid has created a world-class eCommerce service with Takealot and helped to drive online shopping adoption in South Africa.