By By Staff Reporter (3 mins read)
Two brothers have built and developed a grocery delivery app after they saw how the elderly in the far-flung villages of the North West province struggled to do their monthly grocery shopping, due to long distance and the cost involved.
The Groceries On The Move app enables villagers to order groceries and have them delivered once a month at zero delivery fee. It also enables clients to track their orders. App users pay around the same price they would have for the grocery items in-store.
Molope Molope (32) and his brother, Thato Molope (26), fast-tracked their plans to build and develop the Groceries On The Move platform at the beginning of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) nation-wide lockdown and finished it in three weeks.
According to Molope, a taxi ride from Phokeng, Rustenburg in the North West, to town costs anything from R18 to R75; if you happen to have bought a lot of items and need a special trip to your house, you pay between R100 and R120.
“Considering the trip can cost up to R200, it is clear that for the elderly on pension the travel expense eats into their grocery spend,” Molope says.
The commercial side of the app offers a same-day or next-day service to residents in cities and towns for a flat fee of R69.99. A steal considering close competitors charge around R120 in Johannesburg, and no less than R250 per delivery, with a two-day lead time in Rustenburg.
“Any order received before 12 pm is delivered on the same day and the next day if it is received after 12 pm,” Molope explains.
Having reached an agreement with the Royal Bafokeng Council, Molope says the Council’s leadership is pleased that the app will provide a game-changing service for the people and limit the spread of COVID-19 as residents will no longer need to go to town at its busiest time to get groceries.
The app has over 2,500 grocery items listed. With the level 3 lockdown regulations permitting the sale of alcoholic beverages, Bev’s on the Move, an online liquor store with more than 600 items, has been added to the platform.
The Groceries on The Move commercial app is available for download on the Google Play Store and should be on the App Store soon.
“We are looking to launch Groceries On The Move in Pretoria, Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp in the next six months and expand into the rest of the country in 2021,” Molope says.
Introduced at the height of the lockdown, Groceries On The Move adheres to the strictest safety protocols to ensure its customers and staff do not contract the virus.
Drivers are provided with personal protective equipment; they make sure to sanitise their hands before handling deliveries and leave the order at the gate or door as per customers’ preference. They take a picture of the order instead of asking customers to sign. TOJ
The article is an advertorial, a promotional piece written as editorial content. Feature image by Maria Lin Kim on Unsplash. To reach out to Molope Molope, contact Zanele Sabela on +27 79 287 5788 or zanelebsabela@gmail.com.
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