The new courier tech driving online shopping in South African townships
Couriers offering smart locker technology have the potential to significantly boost e-commerce in South Africa, particularly in underserved regions like South Africa’s townships.
One such company looking to leverage online shopping in underserved areas is Bob Group, which has installed several Bob Box smart lockers near South African townships.
It has plans to expand its network to more areas. Smart lockers offer an affordable and convenient way to send packages weighing less than 20kg.
Launched in early 2024, Bob Box has a relatively small footprint compared to some of its smart locker competitors. As of April 2025, it had 196 smart lockers in its network — 80 more than in 2024.
Bob Group’s head of product, Jaco Roux, recently told MyBroadband that the company hopes to expand its network to add 600 new lockers by the end of 2025.
At launch, Bob Box was primarily focused on business-to-consumer (B2C) courier services. However, it has since launched a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) service, which Roux described as promising.
“Our focus is still largely on B2C, but we’ve seen steady growth in C2C usage and excellent feedback from individuals using the lockers for personal deliveries,” he said.
While the company’s current logistics partner, Internet Express, has been instrumental in the service’s early stages, Bob Box wants to make its network available to all couriers.
“As part of our longer-term vision, we’re actively working toward opening the Bob Box network to multiple courier partners,” said Roux.
“The goal is to become fully agnostic, allowing any courier to use the network for business deliveries, returns, or consumer-to-consumer shipments.”
In September 2024, Bob Group’s head of shipping services, Anita Erasmus, told MyBroadband that the lockers had gained popularity.
“It’s still early to pinpoint the exact reasons. We believe it’s a combination of factors like the convenience of having a pickup point close to where people live and work, and the cost savings,” she said.
At the time, Bob Box had lockers in six locations near informal settlements in Johannesburg and Cape Town:
- Balfour Mall — Alexandra
- Norkem Corner — Tembisa
- Stoneridge Centre — Lethabong
- Tshwane Regional — Mamelodi
- Astron Airport City — Nyanga
- Capricorn — Coniston Park
Erasmus said the company was investigating opportunities to launch sites near informal settlements in Durban.
Good news for e-commerce in townships
Bob Group managing director, Andy Higgins, believes smart locker services could be useful in stimulating e-commerce use in informal areas.
“I really think that this can have a significant impact, especially in the informal areas where you are going to be able to have your parcel delivered to a locker or pickup point,” he said.
Its C2C offering could prove particularly useful in this regard, with many informal traders in townships selling products online via smartphone messaging apps.
In September 2024, informal economy expert author GG Alcock explained that informal traders were increasingly using WhatsApp and Facebook Lite to sell their products online.
“Online and delivery is becoming very popular at informal township outlets, particularly in the fast or out-of-home food sector,” he told MyBroadband.
“However, it is not using the typical apps; it’s using WhatsApp and Facebook Lite.”
Apps like these offer low-income earners affordable access to online messaging and social media. Moreover, many mobile operators sell bundles specifically for these platforms.
“The most common form of ‘online’ shopping is WhatsApp. Most informal outlets will have a Facebook page and linked to WhatsApp,” said Alcock.
“People will order by sending their pin location and order via WhatsApp. The delivery will be made, and payment will be taken on delivery.”
Alcock shared the example of a resident in Soweto whose bakery fell into hard times during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He adapted by putting his business on Facebook and invited customers to send him their pin location for him to deliver baked goods.
“He invited people to send him and WhatsApp him their order, and then he had these young guys with trolleys who walked around delivering in a vicinity of about 15km,” said Alcock.
“He saw this real acceleration using that kind of e-commerce, so that was a kind of start of digitisation we see.”
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