The Shoprite Group has entered into a joint venture with its existing Checkers Sixty60 logistics partner, the RTT Group, in which both parties will own 50%.
“We anticipate this transaction will add to the more than 4,000 jobs already created by Sixty60 as we continue to grow in the communities in which we operate,” said Shoprite Group chief executive Pieter Engelbrecht.
“The benefits arising from formalising this relationship with RTT On-Demand should extend beyond our customers to also include our employees, suppliers and shareholders, and we are incredibly pleased to be moving forward with our e-commerce plans on this basis.”
The transaction, which envisages Shoprite Checkers holding a 50% interest for an undisclosed sum, is subject to the fulfilment of both commercial and regulatory conditions and includes RTT’s on-demand technology platform, management and operations teams.
“This transaction is in line with our digital strategy. Owning the last mile home delivery aspect of our Sixty60 service is an important part of building out our digital ecosystem for customers.
“We consider the combined capability we have built with RTT to be a critical competitive advantage and key to Sixty60’s rapid growth. This RTT On-Demand joint venture will allow the group the opportunity to continue enhancing our order fulfilment and last-mile delivery capabilities whilst giving us the opportunity to grow our precision retailing efforts for our customers,” Engelbrecht said.
The group’s digital tech hub, ShopriteX, spearheaded the Checkers Sixty60 innovation, quickly becoming one of the most popular grocery apps in South Africa with over two million downloads.
Checkers, inclusive of Checkers Hyper, operates from 268 stores in South Africa, while Checkers Sixty60 has rapidly expanded to over 261 stores and has created over 4,100 new jobs – up from 800 a little over a year ago.
Shoprite is the largest private employer in South Africa, employing over 142,600 people, 30,000 of which work within the Checkers brand.
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