Pick n Pay coming after Checkers Sixty60’s crown in South Africa

Pick n Pay has announced that it’s overhauled asap! delivery app is performing extremely well, with its on-demand grocery retail turnover growing 40% year-on-year.

The growth was recorded in the first half of the 2026 financial year and followed the group’s undergoing a complete technological transformation in April 2025.

This announcement comes amidst the ongoing struggles between four retailers to corner what is considered the next frontier for the food industry in South Africa – on-demand grocery deliveries.

Currently, Shoprite’s Sixty60 service is the market leader, with the rest of the market share being divided between Pick n Pay’s asap!, SPAR’s SPAR2U, and Woolworths’ Woolies Dash services.

In a press release on 2 December this year, Pick n Pay noted that the service continues to be profitable on a fully costed basis.

It outlined that the app had driven a 131% growth in first-time buyers since its launch, and 78% of these customers originated from the revamped platform.

The service currently offers over 44,000 items across 620 stores nationwide and employs more than 2,500 drivers.

“The three full years of work to completely overhaul the app’s technology infrastructure, both on the back-end technology and on the front-end, have been worth it,” said Pick n Pay’s executive head for online, Enrico Ferigolli. 

The retailer also noted that customers have praised the app’s ability to select a preferred store for delivery, access Pick n Pay’s national network of hypermarkets, and the functionality to spend Smart Shopper points.

The search function that the app uses has also been enhanced with an improved AI engine, allowing for results based on individual shopping behaviour rather than simple keyword matching.

“The large majority of shops start with a search, so we optimised this feature,” Ferigolli said. 

“This best-in-class search knows what you previously bought, prioritising search results that match your shopping behaviour.”

In addition to its app improvements, Pick n Pay implemented a full website relaunch, allowing it to now offer on-demand ordering capabilities.

This has resulted in a 200% increase in weekly website orders.

Pick n Pay has announced that, moving forward, it will expand its partnership with FNB by introducing eBucks spending functionality in the app next year.

“The FNB partnership has been extremely successful for us, and we continue to invest in it,” said Ferigolli.

“We have ambitious plans for further innovation in the coming year, including shopping lists, easy re-ordering of previous purchases, and meal planning features to help customers answer the question of ‘what’s for dinner’ more easily.”

Battle over deliveries

Retailers nationwide are competing to capture a share of the emerging market for on-demand grocery delivery.

Shoprite’s Sixty60 is currently in the lead; however, all other major JSE-listed retailers have reported strong growth for their on-demand services.

For its latest full-year results for the 2025 financial year, Shoprite reported its service grew by 47.7%.

The service is now available in 694 locations, enabling one-hour delivery access to more than 80% of the addressable online market in South Africa.

Pick n Pay online business, including its asap! service and PnP groceries on the Mr D app, drove 48.7% online retailer turnover growth for the 2025 financial year with over 400 Pick n Pay stores.

Woolworths’ 2025 results revealed that its Woolies Dash service saw sales grow by 40% year-on-year.

Woolies Dash comprises 130 sites and one dark store, covering over 90% of the retailer’s customer base.

SPAR’s most recent full-year results were for its 2024 financial year, which revealed that the retailer’s SPAR2U offering had grown volumes by 380% year-on-year, with 525 stores.