Woolies Dash taking the fight to Checkers Sixty60 and PnP ASAP!

South Africa has seen a boom in grocery delivery services in the past few years, with many grocery stores releasing their own versions of a delivery app. While Checkers Sixty60 has been dominating the sector, other services like Woolies Dash are starting to catch up.

Statista reported that revenue in South Africa’s online food delivery market is projected to reach R34 billion in 2023. The grocery delivery segment is expected to grow by 16% in 2024.

Shoprite’s Checkers Sixty60 is the largest grocery app in the country. The company’s latest annual results report that the service has been rolled out to 394 stores since it launched in 2019.

Sixty60 also recorded a 150% increase in annual sales and is currently the top South African grocery app with 2.4 million downloads.

Sixty60 was built on the foundation that customers could order their groceries in 60 seconds and have them delivered in 60 minutes. The service’s convenience is the main reason for its success.

The delivery service allows Checkers to compete in the high-end market – a market segment traditionally dominated by Woolworths.

However, Woolworths is fighting back with its own grocery delivery app, Woolies Dash.

Like Sixty60, Dash allows users to order groceries via the app, which will be delivered in 60 minutes.

Dash is only available from 78 stores in the country and therefore does not have Sixty60’s reach.

However, Woolworths told Daily Investor that Dash continues to grow rapidly and that the service is being rolled out at more stores nationally.

Woolworths reported a 150% increase in Dash sales over the past year.

What sets Dash apart from other grocery delivery services is its recent integration with the company’s existing platform, the Woolworths App. 

This app has an existing subscriber base and, with the integration of Dash, now has more than 2 million subscribers.

In addition, this aggregation of different platforms allows Woolworths customers to purchase groceries and fashion, beauty and other products through one platform.

Woolworths is the first retailer in South Africa to offer this omnichannel solution, which sets it apart from competitors like Sixty60 which only offer groceries.

“Additionally, Woolworths is the only retailer in South Africa to offer cold chain in both our regular deliveries as well as our on-demand Dash service, reinforcing our commitment to quality freshness throughout our value chain,” the company told Daily Investor.

Another big competitor in this market is Pick n Pay (PnP) which offers grocery delivery through two channels – its grocery app, PnP ASAP!, and its partnership with Takealot-owned Mr D.

ASAP! offers a similar service to Sixty60 and Dash, whereby customers can order groceries on the app and have them delivered in 60 minutes.

The service is a relaunched version of PnP’s on-demand online offer and, according to its latest annual report, has achieved impressive results. 

Since relaunching in August 2021, the app’s sales have grown by 300%.

PnP also recently partnered with Mr D, one of South Africa’s most popular food delivery apps. 

This partnership follows a similar strategy to Woolies Dash, where consumers can use an existing platform to purchase products. 

Partnering with Mr D allows PnP to take advantage of the delivery service’s existing user-interface design, its 2.5 million-strong active customer base, and its delivery fleet of 15,000 scooters.

This strategy has also yielded successful results for PnP, as the company reported an 82% online sales growth during H1 FY23.

The table below compares some of the biggest players in the South African eCommerce retail market.

	Checkers Sixty60	Woolies Dash	Pick n Pay ASAP!
Delivery price	R35	R35	R35
Delivery time	60 minutes	60 minutes	60 minutes
Product offerings	Groceries, alcohol	Groceries, alcohol, fashion, beauty, home products	Groceries, alcohol
Stores	394	78	392
Minimum order value	R100	R150	R50
Maximum items	35	30	35