In response to the increasing demand for rapid home deliveries, South African e-commerce giant Takealot.com has initiated a trial run of its 60-minute on-demand delivery service in Cape Town.
Takealot pilots 60-minute delivery service in Cape Town: Here’s everything we know
The service, currently limited to Cape Town’s northern suburbs, aims to cater to unforeseen consumer needs and address potential competition from Amazon‘s imminent arrival in South Africa’s marketplace.
Catering to Consumer Needs in Real-Time
In an interview with CapeTalk, Takealot CEO Frederik Zietsman explained that the motivation behind the 60-minute delivery service is to address unexpected events in consumers’ lives.
The platform seeks to swiftly provide solutions to these unforeseen needs, leveraging its extensive assortment and range of products available through the Takealot.com platform.
“The promise is really that we’d like to understand the unforeseen events in consumers’ lives, the things that they need unexpectedly… and we believe that with our power and assortment and range through the takealot.com platform we can solve most of those problems within 60 minutes,” Zietsman said.
This service comes as a response to the evolving demands of modern shoppers who seek speed and convenience in their online shopping experiences.
Competition and Anticipation of Amazon’s Arrival
Although Zietsman did not explicitly mention it in the interview, reports suggest that Takealot’s decision to expedite its delivery system is partially influenced by the anticipated entrance of global e-commerce giant Amazon into the Cape Town market.
Reports indicate that Amazon may establish its presence in the region by the fourth quarter of 2023. This has prompted Takealot to enhance its delivery capabilities and maintain a competitive edge in the evolving online retail landscape.
From Grocery Delivery to Broader Solutions
Takealot’s entry into the 60-minute delivery arena broadens the scope beyond the grocery sector.
The trend was initially sparked by Checkers with its Sixty60 app, which focused on rapid grocery deliveries.
Takealot’s implementation, however, is not restricted to groceries. Instead, the platform aims to cater to diverse needs, ranging from electronic gadgets like chargers, monitors, and MacBooks to other unforeseen requirements.
Simplicity of the Dark Store Concept
Zietsman attributes the success of the 60-minute delivery concept to the underlying dark store concept, which involves maintaining a separate inventory for efficient deliveries.
Takealot’s central distribution centre stocks over 500 000 products, and the challenge lies in determining which products to make available through TakealotNow, the rapid delivery service.
“It becomes a bit of a difficult task to determine what to stock but you flip it around and think: What problems am I solving for the consumer that are not currently being solved through existing grocery on-demand platforms? If you think about an unforeseen business trip… I need a charger or a monitor or a MacBook, those things aren’t particularly well-serviced. That’s why we think we’ve got a unique position to actually solve that problem for the consumer,” he added.
Rollout Plan and Future Expansion
Zietsman revealed that TakealotNow’s implementation is part of a larger rollout plan that extends into the upcoming calendar year.
The platform aims to expand its 60-minute delivery service to cover more regions in the northern parts of the country. This strategic expansion aligns with Takealot’s commitment to providing fast and efficient solutions to consumers across South Africa.