Smart locker explosion in South Africa

Since launching, Pudo has expanded its smart locker footprint to 1,300, and Bob Box plans to follow suit and have 800 by the end of 2025.

Bob Group’s Bob Box and the Courier Guy’s Pudo currently have the country’s most expansive smart locker footprint.

Pudo has 1,391 lockers nationwide, most of which are in Gauteng, Cape Town, and Durban.

Having launched at the beginning of 2024, Bob Box has a much smaller footprint comprising 196 smart lockers, nearly 80 more than in 2024.

However, Bob Group’s head of product, Jaco Roux, told MyBroadband that they hope to expand their footprint by adding over 600 new lockers by the end of the year.

Smart lockers are an affordable and convenient way to send packages weighing less than 20kg.

These services allows users to reserve a slot for a package, drop it off at a fortified steel locker, and have it delivered to another locker of their choosing nationwide.

The ability to drop and collect the parcel from the lockers makes it convenient, as users don’t have to deal with a courier arriving at an inconvenient time.

Bob Box initially focused on a business-to-consumer (B2C) service but has since launched a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) offering, which Roux says has been a promising addition.

“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.

Roux added that while their current logistics partner is Internet Express, which has been instrumental in launching the service, the goal is to make the 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,” he said.

“The goal is to become fully agnostic, allowing any courier to use the network for business deliveries, returns, or consumer-to-consumer shipments.”

He said the service aims to empower small and growing online businesses by giving customers flexible and convenient delivery options.

Upon launching the delivery service, Bob Group managing director Andy Higgins said the service could be particularly useful in stimulating e-commerce usage 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 rather than to a physical address,” he said.

Similarly, Pudo has also focused on servicing e-commerce businesses, allowing for easy integration using its Shopify and WooCommerce plugins.

Pudo is also a popular delivery option for the online buying and selling of second-hand goods in South Africa.

One example is Yaga’s used clothing marketplace, which has allowed South Africans to make over R500 million by cleaning out their closets.

Private deliveries taking off in South Africa

Given the demise of the South African Post Office over the past decade, the rise of e-commerce has left a gap in the market for parcel deliveries, which the private sector has since filled.

Companies now catering to South Africa’s courier needs offer several innovative delivery services, such as smart lockers.

Others include store-to-door, door-to-door, and point-to-point delivery services.

For instance, Pep Stores has used its extensive network of 2,600 shops nationwide to offer a store-to-store delivery service where customers can send packages of up to 10 kilograms.

For reference, before the SA Post Office entered business rescue, it had 1,023 branches located across the country.  

Aramex has also put its spin on improving the convenience of couriering a package with its store-to-door service.

The service has 1,300 drop-off points in shops nationwide, where customers can deposit the package and have it delivered to an address.

Given the success of private sector players, communications minister Solly Malatsi has considered partly privatising Sapo to modernise its operations and increase its competitiveness.

He said his department has since approached the National Treasury for support in forming a task team to “pursue private financial and operational partners” for the Post Office.

“This will enable serious consideration of privatisation scenarios as a preferential option to further funding from the fiscus,” he said.

“It is with the goal of an innovative and competitive Post Office that it would be strategic to look into its current exclusive license on reserved postal services.”