Internet shopping giant Takealot has announced that it is considering adding groceries to its selection of good available to South African consumers.
According to Basil Sgourdos, the chief financial officer of Naspers and Prosus, the service will be very new to Takealot as it concerns a different category of goods to its current operations. Naspers and Prosus is the sole owner of Takealot.
“The expansion will probably have to be organic, but it is certainly attractive,” says Sgourdos.
While delivering groceries will be a completely new category for Takealot, the infrastructure won’t be too hard to adjust to with a takeaway delivery service already in place. Through Mr D Food, Takealot provides South Africans with a solution to ordering food from restaurants, which is delivered directly to doorsteps.
Expanding to delivering perishable goods is a natural evolution that has been further ignited by the Covid pandemic. With broadband contracts dropping drastically in price, consumers are choosing online shopping over traditional means of stocking up on goods.
Over the last year, Takealot experienced exceptional growth and increase its revenue by 65% to R8.7 billion.
With Checkers, Pick ‘n Pay, and Woolworths already offering ecommerce grocery solutions, it goes without saying that Takealot will face stiff competition. The platform will have the advantage, however, in that it provides a broad selection of products that are not available at all the other outlets.
This follows Nasper and Prosus’s investment in a Norwegian-based online grocery business and a Germany-based instant grocery delivery company.
These investments can be considered as an indication that Naspers and Prosus believes that grocery delivers are a growth area.
With its recent surge in sales, Takealot has become a favourited shopping portal among many South Africans, allowing the ecommerce company to reach its goal of offering consumers the ability to shop for all their needs on a single platform. The coming months will show if the company will, indeed, include fresh produce and perishables in its offerings. For now, the online retailer is revelling in prosperity as its huge investments start to bear fruit.