How to start a grocery delivery business in South Africa

Grocery delivery will be a big business in South Africa in the coming years. This is a guide on how to start a grocery delivery business in South Africa.

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Overview

Most grocery delivery businesses saw a huge spike in sales in 2020 as people were afraid to go and shop for groceries. This is going to play well into the future, having your grocery delivered to you is just so convenient.

This is the best time to get into this business if you are in South Africa, you will give yourself enough time to have a significant share of the market in the near future.

Decide on the structure of your business

There are many ways in which you can structure your business, we will list all of them then suggest the best one. You can make a contract with local stores and deliver food for them to their customers. This option is a bit difficult because the whole point is to get people not to go to the store, this means that the people will have to order online.

To do this, you would have to find a convenient way for people to make orders without going to the store. Another method would be having people contact you with their grocery list and have you do the groceries for them. This is somewhat a viable option but it is limited in scale, it will be difficult for you to scale up.

The most viable option would be having an online store where people can order groceries. You would have to make deals with suppliers in order to get them at a lower price, you might also just sell them at exactly the price you bought them and charge for delivery. You are not in the grocery business but in the logistics business, it’s important to remember that.

Buy a delivery vehicle

It doesn’t matter what structure you choose; you will still need to make deliveries; you can buy a delivery vehicle for starters. This can be a van or even a regular car keep in mind that you will need to make multiple deliveries in a single day and you will need more vehicles as the business expands. You can get more vehicles by hiring other people and give them some cut.

Do some branding

You are likely going to have a lot of competition in the future, it’s very important to be memorable. Make sure that you brand your cars and have a memorable name, it’s also important to give your customers exceptional service.

Do some marketing

Your biggest obstacle will be convincing people to use your services. Which is why it’s important to choose your target market very carefully, you want to offer this service in a high-income neighbourhood. People in high-income neighbourhoods usually don’t have a lot of time on their hands and can appreciate a service like this.

To reach these people, you will have to invest a lot of money in social media marketing. There is no other way around it, with social media marketing; you are able to target exactly the types of people you are looking for.

Run some Facebook ads and Google ads, you have to run these ads for a long time, long enough for people to realize the value of your proposal. Someone might not take action on your advert when they see it the first time around but will definitely remember it if they see it multiple times and will take action on it when they need your service.

Conclusion

Besides getting a delivery vehicle and spending money on marketing, this business has low barriers to entry. This means that you will have a lot of competition in the future, it’s best to focus on your brand that is built on excellent customer service and trust. This was a guide on how to start a grocery delivery business in South Africa. Do you have any thoughts or questions? Comment below.

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