Mirroring a growing trend worldwide of retailers ‘owning’ the last mile of their home delivery capabilities, retail giant the Shoprite Group has entered into a joint venture with its existing Checkers Sixty60 logistics partner, the RTT Group, in which both parties will own 50%.
The transaction follows the rapid growth of Shoprite’s pioneering on-demand grocery solution Checkers Sixty60 in which RTT On-Demand, a division of the RTT Group, has provided last-mile logistics.
The joint venture will advance the technology, learnings and intellectual property created to date as well as enable continued development in the digital and customer experience in line with Shoprite’s ecommerce plans.
The transaction, which envisages Shoprite Checkers holding a 50% interest for an undisclosed sum, is subject to the fulfilment of both commercial and regulatory conditions and includes RTT’s On-Demand technology platform, management and operations teams.
“This transaction is in line with our digital strategy,” says Shoprite Group CEO Pieter Engelbrecht. “This RTT On-Demand joint venture will allow the Group the opportunity to continue enhancing our order fulfilment and last-mile delivery capabilities.”
The Group’s digital tech hub, ShopriteX , spearheaded the Checkers Sixty60 innovation, which has become the number one grocery app in South Africa with over 2 million app downloads.
