From bots to big bucks: Naspers’ AI army powers a Takealot turnaround

Artificial intelligence is behind the company’s move to drive efficiency and scale. Prosus now has more than 20,000 AI agents deployed across its businesses, according to Naspers and Prosus CEO Fabricio Bloisi, doing the jobs of “a few thousand people”.

CFO of Naspers and Prosus Nico Marais noted that AI was already streamlining operations through “smarter customer support, optimised logistics and personal marketing”. The company is using AI not only in internal agents but also in all “marketing steps, from creating the ads, to testing the ads, to optimise it, to monitoring and to learning how to do better ads,” Bloisi said.

Read more: After the Bell: The Prosus of becoming involved in AI

Across the portfolio, that investment is paying off. In the OLX Group, tech is now embedded across the company’s core categories — motors, real estate and jobs — which together make up 70% of OLX revenue.

“By keeping our focus on core categories and the rapid scaling of our proprietary AI across the business to improve customer success, we are already showing great progress just a year after repositioning the company,” said OLX CEO Christian Gisy.

On the local scene, AI is gaining traction at Takealot too.

“On a very practical level, Takealot is built on AI,” said Takealot Group CEO Frederik Zietsman. “Whether it’s our demand forecasting or our search capabilities on site, we have AI built into our model.”

Despite the significant existing deployment, Zietsman believes the company has substantial potential left to unlock using AI. “If I have to measure ourselves out of 10, we are probably a two out of 10. Not because we’re bad, but just because there's so much headroom still for us to use these agentic capabilities within our own business.”

Engineering manager (machine learning) at Takealot, Axel Tidemann says Takealot has four machine learning teams: Discovery (search and recommendations), Merchant (catalogue, pricing, promotions, retail and marketplace), Fulfilment (supply chain and logistics) and MLOps (similar to DevOps).

"MrD is in its early growth phase as a business, and for that reason has a singular machine learning team. However, the team fulfils all the machine learning functions as the more specialised Takealot teams," Tidemann explains.

Some of the AI use cases at Takealot include customer search, product recommendations, moderation of public reviews, and driver capacity predictions.

According to a blog post by Tidemann, case studies of AI in use as far back as 2022 included:

Example one: In the search domain, there is a model that predicts the category of what the customer is trying to buy. For instance, if the customer searches for “Harry Potter”, a machine learning model can understand which category of products to present.

Example two: Mr D does not want customers to receive their food cold. So every minute of the day, a model predicts how long it will take a driver to pick up an order, based on the number of orders and available drivers. If the predicted time is too long, the app will not allow more orders onto the app.

Example three: There is an automated review system that accepts or rejects reviews. Between 4000 to 7000 reviews are written on Takealot every day. The model moderates over 80% of these, sending the rest to manual moderation, which happens when the model is unsure whether to accept or reject.

Profitability milestone

The Takealot Group is on the cusp of a profitable milestone it has chased for a long time.

Takealot.com, including its newly launched Takealot Fulfilment Solutions (TFS) business, delivered a 32% revenue increase and 16% order growth. To date, takealot.com has over 4.8 million active shoppers and fulfilment centres spanning 280,000m².

Takealot Group CFO Tessa Ackerman was cautiously optimistic. “(The second half of the financial year) will be profitable… If everything goes right, we should be in a profitable position for the full year.”

Gys Wilson, head of product: guarantees and trade at FNB South Africa observed that a shift in consumer behaviour has forced traditional brick-and-mortar retailers to rethink their approach, with many embracing omnichannel strategies to integrate online and offline sales. "The rise of e-commerce giants like Takealot, Temu, Shein, and recently Amazon, in the South African retail landscape has intensified competition, compelling smaller businesses that have traditionally relied on their physical stores to adapt or risk being left behind," he said.

Read more: Why SA’s e-commerce success risks declining into a ‘country of warehouses’

Mr D achieved 12% revenue growth, a 9% growth in orders, with service expansion continuing across food, grocery, and retail categories. Restaurants on the platform increased by 13%.

“From that dual purpose of being a profitable business, a growing business, but also socially responsible business, we pride ourselves that we are building something meaningful and something impactful in South Africa,” said Zietsman.

The impact is tangible when it comes to job creation:

• 30,000 SMEs traded on the Takealot Group’s platforms: takealot.com and Mr D.
• Over 18,000 marketplace sellers on takealot.com.
• Over 12,000 restaurants traded on Mr D.
• Over 17,000 driver across the Takealot Group.
• Over 9,000 active Takealot township personal shoppers.

Group head of external affairs and public policy, Tshepo Marumule pointed out that the Takealot Township Economy Initiative includes focused skills development initiatives, the onboarding of thousands of SMEs and partnerships that create jobs and sustainable income opportunities.

However, while the job creation benefits are tangible, Wilson cautions that rapid digital expansion comes with its own challenges, particularly in the areas of environmental sustainability, social and governance. "The convenience of e-commerce has led to an increase in smaller, more frequent shipments and deliveries, contributing to higher carbon emissions. The packaging waste generated by online shopping is another growing issue. In response, businesses are investing in sustainable practices such as biodegradable packaging, carbon offset programs, and optimised delivery routes to reduce their environmental footprint," he says. DM