South Africa’s largest online retailer, Takealot, has initiated a significant new instant-delivery pilot service named “Get it Now” across three major metropolitan areas: Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Cape Town.
The new offering, powered by the established TakealotNOW platform and fulfilled by the logistics capability of its sister company, Mr D, promises consumers the delivery of their online orders within minutes. This rapid delivery pivot places the e-commerce giant directly into the highly competitive “quick commerce” space, moving beyond its traditional scheduled delivery model to meet the escalating demands for immediate gratification among South African consumers.
This substantial pilot follows the successful, phased testing and expansion of the underlying TakealotNOW service over the previous two years. The initial testing phase commenced in August 2023, offering Mr D app users in specific Cape Town suburbs—including Durbanville, Bellville, and Parow—the opportunity to trial the rapid service. The service subsequently expanded to Cape Town’s central suburbs in May 2024 and then launched in Pretoria in August 2024. Consumers can now purchase a wide and diverse range of products, including technology goods like smartphones and laptops, beauty essentials, toys, and high-demand alternative energy products, a catalogue far broader than the typical instant-delivery focus on groceries.
Frederik Zietsman, Group CEO of Takealot, noted that the expansion is a response to the fact that local consumers are increasingly expecting deliveries in under an hour. He explained that this on-demand model is crucial for growing the company’s e-commerce offering through customer-centric services. Significantly, Zietsman confirmed that these rapid deliveries do not incur a higher cost for Takealot compared to its standard courier pricing, suggesting internal logistical efficiencies are allowing the rapid fulfillment model to be cost-competitive, a factor critical for profitability in quick commerce.
The move is strategically important as it leverages the unique positioning of the Takealot Group, using Mr D’s established last-mile logistics network and deep user base to cross-sell Takealot’s general merchandise inventory. Alex Worz, CEO of Mr D, previously stated that the initial TakealotNOW expansion marked a key milestone, confirming the group’s commitment to building the ultimate e-commerce ecosystem that provides instant convenience. Zietsman underscored this strategic differentiation, saying that in an industry predominantly focused on food and grocery delivery, the company has pioneered a shift by offering on-demand delivery for a diverse range of general products.
The new service is also an attempt to capture untapped market potential across various socioeconomic areas. Zietsman expressed excitement about the customised, nuanced operational model, whereby consumer demand in specific areas will dictate the product ranges available for instant delivery, rather than offering a uniform selection across all locations. This tailored approach is designed to ensure maximum relevance; for instance, the assortment of available products in a township area may differ significantly from the selection offered in a more affluent urban area, reflecting a deeper understanding of segmented local consumer needs.
This approach aims to address the perception that South African customers are not currently being served adequately by existing e-commerce options, suggesting a massive opportunity remains for digital commerce growth in the country. The move to instant delivery is supported by compelling market statistics. According to a 2024 report by Statista, despite its strong growth trajectory, South Africa’s e-commerce market penetration rate remains significantly lower than many developed economies, underscoring the headroom for growth that Takealot is now actively pursuing with this speed-focused strategy.
Karla Levick, Takealot’s chief marketing officer, affirmed that the collaboration with Mr D is fundamentally about building an e-commerce ecosystem that truly understands and delivers what makes South Africans happy, framing the ability to receive needed items in minutes as the ultimate expression of that promise. Marnus Engelbrecht, head of TakealotNOW, reinforced that the company was pioneering on-demand delivery for general merchandise in South Africa, a move that validates the high consumer appetite for instant access to goods, with continuous expansion of these capabilities expected over time, according to data from KPMG‘s latest e-commerce outlook.