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The Woolies Dash scooters have been dashing and scooting around the country delivering all your fav goods from Woolworths stores, the demand of which has grown so much that the company is now opening dark stores.

Woolworths’ has introduced its first dark store to support its on-demand delivery service located in Cape Town’s CBD.

A dark store is a spot that’s not open to the public, solely there to handle online orders. Woollies’ first dark store is now up and running, serving the City Bowl and nearby areas.

Woolworths online and mobile director Liz Hilock told MyBroadband that their investment in dark stores would help improve their customers’ experience. Woolies Dash orders are typically fulfilled through local Woolworths stores, meaning online orders compete with in-store shoppers. However, the Cape Town dark store has made a noticeable difference in getting stock available for online orders in the area.

“The dark store eliminates this competition, and customers enjoy quicker delivery, thanks to a dedicated environment designed to be online-first,” says Woolworths.

The on-demand delivery service Woolies Dash reported strong growth for the financial year that ended on 30 June 2024. Despite the retailer hitting a few speed bumps this year, most of its business sections saw lekker online growth.

Online food sales grew by 52.8%, contributing 5.5% of Woolworths’ total sales in South Africa.

The retailer chalked up the growth to the rising use of Woolies Dash, which shot up by 71.2% over the period.

Of course, Woolies plans to roll out more Woolies Dash dark stores across the country in the near future. Watch the space.

In the fashion space, the company also observed a significant increase in online sales, with an increase of 30.4% that contributed to 5.6% of total sales.

However, it noted that it faced some challenges that negatively impacted trade, including the popularity of players like Shein and Temu in South Africa.

“Whilst our Fashion, Beauty, and Home business continues to make steady progress on a number of its strategic priorities, trade was impacted by the weak macro environment, poor availability, and increased competition from the disruptive entry of international online retailers,” Woolworths said.

Ja, hey, what did I say about the marketing megalodons of these giant Chinese fast fashion chains?

Despite these challenges, Woolworths says it consistently sees sales growing by over 50% in food and beauty, home, and fashion.

[source:mybroadband]