Groceries on your doorstep

SAME-DAY DELIVERY APPS: CHECKERS SIXTY60 VS WOOLIES DASH VS BOTTLES BY PNP

Until this point, Pick n Pay and Woolworths offered future-day delivery, which required customers to book timeslots.

Checkers upended the market in November 2019 with the launch of the Sixty60 app, which promised delivery within as little as 60 minutes. The proposition hit the sweet spot consumers wanted: efficient, same-day delivery. Until this point, delivery services from Pick n Pay and Woolworths offered only future-day delivery and required customers to book timeslots.

Checkers was very late to the game. But it changed the game entirely. In its September results presentation, Shoprite Holdings highlights that Checkers had “pioneered one hour on-demand grocery delivery” in SA.

A measured, careful rollout became an aggressive one during lockdown, where it quadrupled the base of stores which offered Sixty60 in 12 weeks. The service continues to be very popular.

Grocery essentials

Rival Pick n Pay expanded its partnership with alcohol delivery app Bottles and launched “grocery essentials” delivery within the first week of the hard lockdown (the two had been partners on alcohol delivery since 2018).

This was of benefit to both parties – Pick n Pay had a quick solution to what customers were demanding (same-day delivery) and Bottles had a business, given that the sale of alcohol was banned.

Initially, the partnership was limited as only 1 500 grocery items were included. Usage continued to scale to the point where it likely dwarfed Bottles’ original business, once alcohol sales were permitted.

In October, the retailer announced it would buy the business and integrate it into its online offering. In December, it rebranded as “Bottles by PnP”, cut its delivery fee to R35 (the same as Sixty60) and extended both coverage and operating times.

Notably, Bottles by PnP is the only of the three to have extended coverage to areas in Soweto.

Delivery within an hour

In December, Woolworths launched the trial of its Woolies Dash same-day service. The app, too, promised delivery within an hour.

It has entered a crowded, competitive market and has differentiated its offering by promising a “store-to-door cold chain”, meaning orders will remain chilled throughout – not dissimilar to the technology used by meal prep services ( like UCOOK and Daily Dish) for delivery of their weekly boxes.

Woolies has the most integration work to do out of the three. Already, it offers online shopping, shopping via its app (a different experience to the former) and click and collect at certain stores. Dash adds a fourth option.

It remains to be seen whether Woolies Dash will match the R35 delivery fee charged by its two main rivals after the trial period. – Moneyweb

*Not available when alcohol sales are restricted Sixty60 and Woolies Dash both allow shoppers to choose alternatives if there is no stock of a specific item, while PnP says Bott les will prompt a customer to select a replacement after an order is placed, should the initial item be out of stock. All three apps only accept card payments (credit and (chip-and- PIN) debit cards).