JetlogWood/jlog-sa-ecommerce-import-trends

Open dataset: South Africa's e-commerce import trends from official SARS Trade Statistics (2021-2025). CC BY 4.0. # South Africa E-Commerce Import Trends — open dataset (v1.0, 2026) **Full report:** jlog.co.za **DOI:** South Africa E-Commerce Imp… **Kaggle dataset:** kaggle.com ## What this is Aggregated figures on South Africa's imports in the five consumer-goods categories most associated with online retail — apparel, consumer electronics, beauty and cosmetics, footwear, and toys, games and sporting goods — derived from official South African Revenue Service (SARS) Trade Statistics, 2021–2025. **What this is NOT:** a measure of online sales. Customs data records goods crossing the border, not the sales channel, so it cannot separate B2C e-commerce from wholesale imports. This dataset is a transparent proxy: "consumer-goods import categories associated with e-commerce". Full detail in `methodology.md`. It is also NOT a copy of the SARS database — only aggregated, derived figures are published here. For the underlying detailed records, use the SARS Trade Statistics portal directly. ## Files and columns All rand values are **customs value in ZAR** (nominal — not inflation-adjusted). Every file carries a `source` column crediting SARS. ### sa-ecommerce-import-trends-category-annual.csv One row per category per year. | Column | Meaning | |---|---| | category | machine key: apparel, consumer_electronics, beauty, footwear, toys_games_sport, basket_total | | category_label | plain-English category name | | year | calendar year | | import_value_zar | total customs value of imports, ZAR | | is_partial_year | True where the year is incomplete (2026) — treat with care | | yoy_growth_pct | growth vs the previous year, % (blank for 2021 and partial years) | | source | data source credit | ### sa-ecommerce-import-trends-category-monthly.csv One row per category per month: `category, category_label, year, month (1–12), import_value_zar, source`. ### sa-ecom …