What is losing an online store the most sales?
Not a lack of visitors. The Baymard Institute, which maintains the running average of 50 cart-abandonment studies, puts it at just over 70% 1. Seven in ten shoppers who put something in a cart leave without paying. Baymard’s own checkout research lists the reasons and none of them is exotic: extra costs revealed late, an account demanded before payment, a long or confusing checkout, no trust in the site with a card number, slow delivery, no visible returns policy.
Underneath that sits speed. Google’s 2017 research found 53% of mobile visits abandoned when a page takes more than three seconds 2. Deloitte and Google’s 2020 study across 30 million sessions and 37 brands measured the other direction: a 0.1-second improvement in mobile speed raised retail conversions by 8.4% and average order value by 9.2% 3. A South African store on mobile data lives or dies on this number.
Where does AI fit?
In three places, and in this order.
| Stage | The measured problem | What AI does |
|---|---|---|
| Before the cart | Half of slow mobile visits leave 2 | Nothing: this is a fast, hand-built site, not an AI problem |
| In the cart | “Do you deliver to Polokwane?” goes unanswered and the shopper leaves | A chatbot answers delivery, sizing, stock and returns within seconds, in the shopper’s language |
| At checkout | Trust, surprise costs, friction | The chatbot shows the shipping cost before checkout and takes a deposit or payment in the chat on the plans that support it |
| After the sale | “Where is my order?” floods the inbox | An email agent answers order-status mail from your own records and escalates the complaints |
Do recommendations work?
They work when they are honest. A chatbot that shows the product card for the thing the shopper asked about, with the real price and the real stock, converts because it removes a search. A “you might also like” carousel stuffed with margin products does not. The shopper who asked for a 150-litre geyser wants the 150-litre geyser and the fitting kit, not a fridge.
How big is the South African market?
DataReportal’s Digital 2026 report counts 51.7 million internet users in South Africa, 79.6% of the population, at the end of 2025, and 29.1 million social media user identities 4. Almost all of that is on a phone, which is why every number in this article is a mobile number. The store that loads fast on a phone and answers the shopper’s question on the same screen is competing for the whole market; the store that does neither is competing for the desktop minority.
What about fraud?
SABRIC’s 2023 crime statistics recorded almost 3.3 billion rand in financial-crime losses in South Africa, with digital banking fraud incidents up 45% and losses up 47% in a year 5. For a store the practical defence is to never touch a card number: take payment through a gateway that carries the risk, and let the chatbot send a pay link rather than collect details. Our chatbot uses PayFast for exactly that reason.
Where to start?
Speed first, because it is the biggest measured lever and it needs no AI at all. Then a chatbot for the questions that stall a purchase, then an email agent for the “where is my order” mail. Each one is month to month, so the order can change if the numbers say so.
Questions people ask
Can the chatbot show my products?
Yes. On the Intermediate plan and above it shows product cards with real photos and prices from your catalogue, inside the chat.
Can shoppers pay in the chat?
On the Pro and Pro+ plans the chatbot takes payment or a deposit through PayFast inside the conversation.
Does it work with Shopify or WooCommerce?
The chatbot installs on any site with one line of code, and its integrations connect to the tools you already run; the catalogue is what it is trained on.
Sources
- Baymard Institute, “Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics” — the running average of 50 studies
- Google / SOASTA, “The Need for Mobile Speed” (2017): 53% of mobile visits are abandoned if a page takes longer than three seconds
- Deloitte Digital with Google, “Milliseconds Make Millions” (2020) — 30 million sessions across 37 brands
- DataReportal, “Digital 2026: South Africa” (Kepios) — internet and social media use at the end of 2025
- SABRIC, “Annual Crime Statistics 2023” — digital banking fraud in South Africa
Where we do this
If you are reading this from Cape Town, Ekurhuleni and Rustenburg, those pages go through the local version of it: which languages the bot needs, what the busy hours look like, and which sectors ask what.