Woolworths has announced plans to launch a same-day delivery service in South Africa.

In a social media post on Monday (23 November), the retailer said that clients can expect the same quality and freshness as experienced in its stores through the service.

It did not provide information on when the service will launch or which areas the service will be available in.

The announcement comes after competitors Pick n Pay and Checkers launched similar delivery services in the country.

Pick n Pay recently concluded an agreement to purchase on-demand, online grocery service Bottles. Bottles was launched in 2016 as an alcohol on-demand delivery app, and partnered with Pick n Pay in 2018.

Following the prohibition on the sale of alcohol in March, Bottles re-purposed its app to deliver on-demand grocery essentials to customers.

Since its move to groceries at the end of March, the app has reached more than 700,000 downloads, and 350,000 registered users.  The service offers over 7,000 products at store prices, with an average delivery time of 90 minutes, Pick n Pay said.

Checkers launched its Sixty60 app in 2019.The service allows customers to accept delivery within 60 minutes, or alternatively at a time that best suits them.

Users can pay using a credit or chip-enabled debit card and shoppers can track their order throughout delivery with real-time GPS tracking.

Other changes 

Woolworths chief executive Roy Bagattini recently told Reuters that the group intends to develop its own beauty brands and explore more convenience store formats.

Bagattini said that Woolworths also sees opportunities in the collapse of Edcon – once a major South African clothing retailer that is being sold off in pieces to competitors.

Woolworths has also announced a commitment to invest R1 billion in its prices over the next two to three years in a bid to make its products ‘more accessible to more customers’.

This will include a R750 million investment into pricing for its foods business, and R250 million in its fashion business.

“Over the last few years, we have been on a journey to invest in the prices of key product lines and categories to ensure we continue to provide our customers with the value they have come to expect from us,” said Woolworths SA chief executive Zyda Rylands.

“Because we know our customers are under pressure, we are investing even more in our prices to ensure we remain relevant and accessible, while not compromising on our quality.”
Rylands said that the first phase will focus on a R250 million price investment planned in the foods business and R250 million in the fashion business for this financial year. The investment is being focussed on the most popular Woolworths products.

In foods, this includes the entire fresh chicken range such as all whole and portion chicken packs, excluding Easy to Cook, crumbed and marinated chicken.

“While this investment will initially be most visible in our poultry products, we have also applied more promotions on everyday basics across groceries, household and personal care to be more affordable to more customers,” said Rylands.

In fashion, the investment will be in selected key wardrobe essentials, she said.

Woolworths had not responded to queries at the time of writing.

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