Pricecheck Tech and E-commerce Awards 2018 winners revealed

The annual event, sponsored by Criteo and now in its third year, is aimed at recognising South African organisations and individuals in the e-commerce and technology industries whose focus on innovation has translated into world-class consumer experiences.

This year's winners were announced at a gala dinner held at the The Westin in Cape Town on 30 August, with a special keynote made by futurologist, author, speaker and scenario planner Clem Sunter serving as one of the night's highlights.

Speaking at the ceremony, Pricecheck CEO Kevin Tucker noted that the Tech and E-commerce Awards are more important than ever before. He said that while 2018 has been a tough year for retail, it's an industry with massive potential for growth.

"We're moving away from blue-collar work to digital employment and I think it's important to ensure that we have a growing competitive digital economy," he said.

"E-commerce is a shining light in the SA economy, and it's important that we recognise the success stories and the standout achievers in our unique industry."

Kevin Tucker

Judging process

After a month-long public nomination process in June, the nominations were put to a vote. A shortlist of ten nominees per category was whittled down from a total of 35,500 votes. From there the judging panel narrowed the votes down to three finalists per category, and from those three finalists one winner was selected.

The category winners – with the exception of the People's Choice which is based on public opinion – were selected by this year’s panel of judges, which included: Michele Lozzo, managing director Middle East & Africa for Criteo; Geoff Cohen, co-founder of &Innovation; Boitumelo Menyatswe, ecosystem manager for Silicon Cape; Elsamari Botha, Professor Digital Enterprise Management and Digital Futures at the University of Stellenbosch; Matthew Buckland, founder of Creative Spark; Lynette Hundermark, co-founder and chief product officer at Useful & Beautiful; Bryan Nelson, sector lead: finance, retail, travel at Google Africa; Tom Jackson, partner at Disrupt Africa and Lindsey Schutters, editor of Popular Mechanics SA.

Finalists announced for 2018 PriceCheck Tech and E-commerce Awards

27 Aug 2018

And the winners are...

Best Fintech Platform – Luno

Best Use of Tech by an NGO – OpenUp

Best Delivery/Logistics Provider – Takealot

Best Mobile Shopping Experience – Travelstart

Best Travel Booking Service – Airbnb

Best On-Demand Service – Uber

Best Niche Shopping Service – Spree

Best Small Tech/E-commerce Business – Coffee Capsules Direct

Best Online Classifieds Service – Property24

Best Marketplace Platform – Takealot

Best Customer Service – Capitec Bank

Employer of the Year – Pick n Pay

People’s Choice Award – Takealot

E-commerce Service of the Year – Takealot

Takealot, which was the overall winner at the first Tech and E-commerce Awards in 2016, reclaims the E-commerce Service of the Year title from last year's winner, Travelstart.