We tested Dischem DeliverD — with excellent results

3 years ago 1

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MyBroadband tested the Dischem DeliverD on-demand service, and we were impressed with the results.

Dischem promises 60-minute delivery when shopping from its mobile app, and ours arrived significantly ahead of schedule.

The Dischem app is easy to navigate and allows ordering prescription services and making clinic or salon appointments.

Dischem launched public testing of DeliverD in July 2021 at 33 branches across Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape.

Karooooo-subsidiary Picup, Dischem’s logistics partner, said that in the month following the launch, they saw online sales growth of 14.4% compared to the year before.

“This was already an increase in growth over the 2019 comparable period where we saw 345.9% growth,” said Dischem IT OPS project management officer Annemarie Barnard.

Overall, Dischem’s online orders surged from 6,000 to 8,000 a month at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic to around 89,000 per month by May 2022.

Dischem’s app features over 7,000 products that can be ordered at in-store prices.

This service is a competitor to other quick delivery platforms such as Checkers Sixty60 and Pick n Pay asap!, but it is a first for a pharmacy.

We created an app account and selected a few items under the DeliverD section after adding our office as a delivery address.

The earliest available time slot on the app was 10:00 – 11:00, which suited us well, so we placed the order.

The app lets users select alternatives for each product if they are out of stock. We opted not to stipulate alternatives, meaning unavailable items would be left out of the order.

We had to pay a flat rate delivery fee of R35, which is consistent with similar delivery services for other shops in South Africa.

We placed our order at 07:53, and at 09:14, we got a notification that the payment went through and the order was collected.

We also received a link to track the delivery driver’s route to our office, as well as information about the driver and a way to contact them.

Our order was delivered at 09:37 — 23 minutes before the time slot we selected

This is impressive, but it may be an inconvenience if you planned to have items delivered at a specific time and weren’t ready yet.

The items were received in perfect condition, and the brown paper bag is one of the sturdiest we have received from a store in a long time.

More stores offering same day delivery is excellent for consumers, as it provides convenience, and competition between different shops, encouraging good performance from all of them.