Takealot, Africa's largest e-tailer, has grown exponentially in the last few years. It serves as South Africa's answer to Amazon, and it's owned by Naspers. Today, we're going to be talking about how businesses can sell on Takealot, and what they should look out for if they want to join in.

Firstly, it's important to know that it's not just Takealot that holds onto its inventory. Businesses, just like with Amazon and eBay, can become a seller on Takealot. However, the process is fairly extensive, and not every retailer is accepted.

After deciding to sell on Takealot, businesses must apply via the seller Takealot portal. As of this writing, the e-tailer is onboarding more sellers than before, so now is the best time to apply.

They require sellers to pass an e-learning course, explaining how the back end of Takealot operates. After passing the course, businesses must decide on the type of order they would like to make.

The first type is a lead-time order, where the product is still held by the seller, and the shopper has to wait a few days for delivery. However, a small business can do this with less risk. The second type of order is an in-stock order, where the business sends a bulk load of inventory stock to Takealot. This gets scanned in, and if a customer orders, it gets shipped immediately, resulting in a quicker delivery.

Each comes with its benefits and disadvantages, with the lead-time order being less risky, but more challenging in keeping up with inventory, resulting in fees. Meanwhile, the in-stock order is easier to operate but requires shipping of bulk inventory upfront.

Thus, before deciding on an order, you must take into account the cost of fees and shipping, the type of product you have, and how many sales you can expect, among other factors.