Shoprite forms joint venture with Sixty60 delivery partner
Retailer will hold 50% of the issued ordinary shares in new company for on-demand service
Shoprite Checkers has formed a joint-venture with RTT Group, the delivery partner for its Sixty60 grocery delivery service, to foster more innovation and protect the intellectual property of its new sales channel.
Sixty60 has grown rapidly since its launch two years ago, having been downloaded about 2-million times to become SA’s prime grocery app as Covid-19 boosted demand for online shopping options.
The agreement will cause RTT Group’s on-demand business to be transferred into a new company in which Shoprite Checkers will subscribe for 50% of the issued ordinary shares. Sixty60 will continue to use it as its delivery partner.
The joint venture protects the learnings, technology and intellectual property created by Checkers Sixty60 to date, while facilitating future innovation and development, Shoprite said.
“Owning the last-mile home delivery aspect of our Sixty60 service is an important part of building out our digital ecosystem for customers,” said CEO Pieter Engelbrecht in a statement.
“We consider the combined capability we have built with RTT to be a critical competitive advantage and key to Sixty60’s rapid growth. This RTT on-demand joint venture will allow the group the opportunity to continue enhancing our order fulfilment and last-mile delivery capabilities while giving us the opportunity to grow our precision retailing efforts for our customers,” he said.
The transaction is expected to be finalised before the end of Shoprite’s year to end-June 2022.