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I will spare you the ‘times are tough for businesses’ spiel, just as they’re tough for everyday South Africans, because we’ve been down this road many times before.

For businesses who have been able to offer increased online services, thereby reducing the time one has to spend in public, it hasn’t been all bad news, though.

Take for example Woolworths, with the latest trading update released yesterday showing online sales growth of 158% in the 26 weeks ending December 27, 2020.

The Daily Maverick reports this is due in large part to Woolies “expanding its click and collect offering and trial an on-demand delivery service”.

You really can’t put a price on not having to make small talk in the Woolies queue, through a mask, after desperately hoping that the acquaintance in front of you would do the right thing and pretend they didn’t recognise you.

Read my eyes – let’s not do this.

Don’t even get us started on those plastic face shields.

Anyway, back to business:

[Woolworths’] food business was the standout performer, growing sales by 10.9% in the period and 12% in the six weeks leading up to Christmas and New Year.

Price movement was 7.1%, impacted by mix, while underlying product inflation averaged 4.8% over the period — meaning that consumers opted for higher-margin products over grocery staples like baked beans or washing powder…

Overall, Woolworths beat analyst expectations by announcing that it expects adjusted diluted headline earnings per share to rise by between 17% and 22% to between 189 cents and 197.9 cents per share.

Woolies isn’t the only outlet to see a significant surge in online sales, with the likes of OneCart, Checkers Sixty60, Bottles, Quench, and Zulzi seeing sales increase by 200% to 500% since last March.

You can see a comparison between many of the grocery delivery apps here, if you’re new to the game.

Whilst the online sales numbers are good, reviews for the Woolies app, Dash (Apple here, Android here), are certainly mixed. The retailer has pointed out that it’s still very much in the trial phase, with various failings being continuously worked on.

Business Insider SA recently put it to the test, after securing slot (no mean feat, and one of the biggest gripes among would-be users).

Their conclusion as follows:

In all, the Dash process was relatively seamless, and although we were underwhelmed by still having to fight for a delivery slot, confused by the sudden early arrival of the order, and disappointed by the quality of two fresh produce items, we were impressed with the cold storage and sheer range of stock available on the app.

Dash will, however, take some time to reach the level of comfort and seamlessness of Sixty60.

Image: App Store

To be fair, Checkers has been tinkering on its app for over a year, and once Dash has ironed out the kinks, the staunch Woolies loyalists are likely to forget the initial annoyance, especially when they realise they can have a sushi platter and a large bag of Chuckles dropped directly on their doorsteps.

In certain suburbs (Constantia, cough, Atlantic Seaboard, we see you), there’s also the fact that your neighbours, peaking through their expensive curtains, will see you ordering Woolies, and not Checkers, and nod approvingly.

It’s the 2021 version of the knowing nod at the roast chicken counter.

Remember when the sale of roast chicken was banned? What wild times we live in.

[sources:dailymav&businsidersa]