Days after Pick n Pay’s new CEO, Sean Summers, took over from Pieter Boone, the retailer announced the relaunch of its asap! on-demand delivery service and that it would be offering unlimited delivery via the app in October — subscription-free — stepping up competition with rival Checkers, which has just revealed a R99 Amazon Prime-style subscription for unlimited deliveries.

Checkers, the current market leader in on-demand grocery delivery, has invested heavily in its Sixty60 service and reaped the rewards: over the past year, although in-app purchases still comprise less than 5% of the group’s sales, Sixty60 grew by 81.5%.

Pick n Pay says with more customers shopping via its app, the upgrades will offer a smoother, faster and “fresher” way to shop online and get their groceries delivered in 60 minutes.

The asap! app now has more than 25,000 easily searchable products via its Smart AI search technology and product alternatives, which are chosen upfront in case of stockout issues. Customers enjoy in-store pricing, the best deals, Smart Shopper promotions and points, and Vitality HealthyFood benefits.

The AI-assisted search helps customers to find products, even when making a typo, and constantly learns how customers shop to give them the most relevant and personalised results and offer live order tracking.

The retailer has also focused on training for its asap! Fresh Crew of personal shoppers, which has improved the picking and delivery time.

Vincent Viviers, retail executive for Omnichannel at Pick n Pay, says the relaunched app delivers an appealing new and fresh shopping experience for their customers, enhancing speed, product availability and delivery.

The unlimited free delivery is available to all customers using the code FRESHAPP (Ts & Cs apply). The code is valid until the end of October 2023 but the retailer has hinted that the offer might be extended.

Checkers, meanwhile, has launched Xtra Savings Plus, a monthly subscription that gives customers unlimited free Sixty60 grocery deliveries, personalised offers and an additional in-store discount for R99 per month.

The Xtra Savings benefit programme was announced as the best retail rewards programme in the South African Loyalty Awards, saving customers R13.5-billion on their groceries over the past financial year.

Customers receive exclusive benefits such as:

• Unlimited free Sixty60 deliveries (minimum spend R350);
• Savings of 10% extra in-store (to a maximum of R200 savings once a month);
• Double personalised offers in-app and in-store; and
• They can pause or cancel at any time with a money-back guarantee.

The launch campaign for Xtra Savings Plus spoofed the Mission Impossible movie franchise, featuring Miles Fisher.

The latest campaign sees him spoofing Tom Cruise roles by demonstrating how Checkers has done the impossible: offering an unlimited delivery subscription that is designed to more than pay itself back.

Other ads, all created by 99c, see Fisher spoofing Cruise’s roles in Top Gun and Risky Business. DM

This article has been updated – it erroneously credited Retroviral for the campaign but it is, in fact, a Panther Punch production.