South African shoppers spent R28.8 billion online in 2015‚ with ‘Local is Lekker’ purchases dominating where they spent their cash. Digital payments giant PayPal on Wednesday released results of a global survey conducted by research firm Ipsos‚ which sheds light on consumer shopping habits in South Africa. The survey found that online shopping in South Africa is expected to reach R37 billion this year‚ and to rise to nearly R46 billion in 2017.According to the research‚ six out of ten South African internet users over the age of 18 have shopped online in the past 12 months.Most are local purchases - 59% of online shoppers only shopped domestically.Popular online shopping destinations abroad were the USA‚ UK and China.Amongst the reasons for shopping from these countries were better prices – 82% of cross-border online shoppers who have made purchases from websites in China are motivated by price – while the top reason for purchases from the US and UK was access to goods not available in South Africa. This was the second top reason for purchases from websites in China‚ followed by more affordable shipping costs.North America was the most popular region for cross-border purchases‚ with 27% of South African online shoppers having made a purchase there in the past 12 months‚ closely followed by Europe at 20% and Asia at 19%.The most popular category of goods for South African online shoppers was digital and downloadable entertainment and education items‚ with 44% of cross-border shoppers having purchased these goods from websites in other countries in the last 12 months. They include e-books‚ applications‚ digital music‚ films and videos‚ online video games‚ software and media content.This is followed by fashion items (which 37% of cross-border shoppers claim to have purchased from websites in another country in the last 12 months)‚ including clothing‚ apparel‚ footwear and accessories; and consumer electronics (30%)‚ including computers‚ tablets and mobile phones...