Francis Baloyi

Nearly 7 years of hands-on eCommerce experience working with Leroy Merlin South Africa, Mazda, Etihad Airways, and Nkwazi. Specialist in CRO, AI implementation, and agentic commerce strategy. Based in Sandton, Johannesburg.

The AI Tools SA eCommerce Brands Are Actually Using in 2026, and Which Ones Are Worth It

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There is no shortage of AI tools competing for your attention right now. Personalisation platforms. Catalog automation software. AI-powered search engines. Demand forecasting models. Conversational shopping agents. The vendor landscape has exploded, and every product claims to be the one that will transform your eCommerce operation. Most of them won’t. Not because the technology doesn’t … Read more

Google’s March 2026 Core Update: What eCommerce Brands Need to Know (And Fix)

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If your organic traffic dropped in late March or early April and you haven’t found a clean explanation, stop looking at your ad account. The answer is in your content. Google’s March 2026 core update, the first broad core update of 2026, began rolling out on March 27 and completed on April 8. Over 55% … Read more

Agentic AI Is Reshaping Global eCommerce — Here’s What SA Retailers Need to Do Before It Arrives

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The shift isn’t coming. It’s here. This morning, E-Commerce Times confirmed what practitioners have been watching build for months: unified platforms and agentic AI are no longer a 2027 forecast, they are the dominant force reshaping how global eCommerce operates right now, in 2026. And the data is no longer directional. The agentic AI segment … Read more

Why 70% of Your Shoppers Leave Without Buying (And What Your Checkout Is Getting Wrong)

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Seven out of ten shoppers who add something to their cart never complete the purchase. That’s not a rounding error — that’s the global average, sitting at 70.22% according to Baymard Institute’s 2026 analysis of over 50 studies. For most eCommerce brands, fixing cart abandonment is the single highest-leverage thing they can do to grow … Read more

What Is Agentic Commerce? And Why Your Product Pages Need to Change Now

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Most eCommerce brands are optimising for a shopper who no longer exists. The assumption baked into most product pages, category structures, and checkout flows is that a human being is doing the browsing — clicking, comparing, reading reviews, and deciding. That assumption is becoming less reliable every month. AI agents are starting to do that … Read more