Sixty60 vs Pick n Pay vs Spar2U

Competition in South Africa’s on-demand grocery delivery space is heating up, with major players like Checkers Sixty60, Pick n Pay asap!, and Spar2U offering highly competitive pricing for groceries ordered online.

A MyBroadband analysis has revealed that although Pick n Pay asap! is the cheapest for our selected basket of goods, just R20.10 separates it from the most expensive option: Spar2U.

The popularity of on-demand grocery delivery services has skyrocketed in recent years. When Checkers Sixty60 launched in late 2019, many believed demand for the service would decline following the lifting of Covid-19 lockdowns.

However, it has only continued to grow and expand its footprint.

In its latest annual results, the Shoprite group revealed that Checkers Sixty60’s sales increased by 58.1% over the financial year. This followed online sales growth of 81.5% the year prior.

It has also significantly expanded its network of stores supporting Checkers Sixty60. It reached 466 stores by September 2023, 505 stores by December 2023, and 539 stores by June 2024.

For reference, when the service launched in November 2019, it was available through select stores in Sandton, Johannesburg, and Cape Town.

Within 18 months of its launch, Sixty60 climbed to the top of South Africa’s list of the most popular grocery shopping apps, accumulating more than 1 million downloads in a short time.

The platform has proved immensely popular among the country’s online shoppers, with the app’s downloads reaching 3.1 million by March 2023.

By December 2023, Checkers Sixty60 downloads stood at over 4.5 million.

Rivals, Pick and Pay asap! and Spar2U have also seen substantial growth in recent years.

Launched in March 2022, Spar2U added around 70,000 to 87,500 new users to its platform by November 2023. This user growth led to sales volume growth of 27% during the year.

It saw a massive surge in sales between September 2023 and March 2024, with sales volumes increasing by a massive 463% over the same period the year before.

Spar also expanded the service’s footprint to 420 by March 2024, from 356 at the end of September 2023.

Pick n Pay’s results for the year ended 25 February 2024 revealed that its asap! on-demand delivery service had expanded to 541 stores nationwide, and grew sales by 74.4% over the financial year.

The growth figure was up from 72% for the same period the year before.

“Growth was driven by 102.3% year-on-year increase in the Group’s on-demand services, Pick n Pay asap!, via its flagship app, as well as via its partnership with Mr D Pick n Pay,” it added.

MyBroadband compared pricing for the three services by creating a grocery basket comprising ten products available at each store to determine which is more affordable.

Online grocery delivery price showdown

Our analysis revealed that Spar’s on-demand delivery service was the most expensive for the basket of groceries we selected at R546.

This makes it R20.10 more expensive than the cheapest option, Pick n Pay asap!, and R18.10 more expensive than Checkers Sixty60.

We selected products common to each retailer to ensure fairness. However, this wasn’t possible for products like chicken breasts, as the supplier used by each retailer is often unclear.

We selected the lowest price per kg available from each retailer for chicken breasts, using original and non-deal pricing.

Despite being more expensive overall, Spar2U was the cheapest store for three items: a 2L bottle of Douglasdale Full Cream milk, a 190g pack of Cheese NikNaks, and 200g of Eskort Streaky Bacon.

It was between R2 and R8 cheaper than the competitors for these products.

However, it was more expensive for products like 1kg of chicken breasts, a 700g load of Albany Superior White Bread, and a nine-pack of Baby Soft 2-ply toilet rolls.

It should be noted that, unlike Checkers, Spar2U’s pricing varies based on the type of store you order from.

“Different Spar stores have different prices, based on whether it’s a Spar, SuperSpar, KwikSpar,” it told MyBroadband.

The table below compares the cost of similar grocery baskets purchased through Checkers Sixty60, Pick n Pay asap!, and Spar2U.

For the comparison, we assumed that the customer isn’t a member of any loyalty rewards programmes and excluded any deal prices. We excluded the cost of delivery as each platform charges the same fee of R35.

Item	Spar2U	Checkers Sixty60	Pick n Pay asap!
Douglasdale Milk Full Cream (2L)	R32.99	R37.99	R35.99
Albany Superior White Bread (700g)	R19.99	R16.99	R16.99
Chicken Breast (1kg)	R98.99	R78.99	R79.99
Coca-Cola Original Taste (1L)	R18.99	R18.99	R17.99
NikNaks Cheese Flavoured (190g)	R19.99	R21.99	R21.99
Beacon Jelly Tots Original (100g)	R25.99	R25.99	R25.99
Lancewood Cheddar Cheese (600g)	R128.09	R129.99	R124.99
McCain Country Crop Frozen Veg (1kg)	R56.99	R49.99	R54.99
Baby Soft 2 Ply Toilet Rolls (9 pack)	R101.99	R96.99	R96.99
Eskort Streaky Bacon (200g)	R41.99	R49.99	R49.99
Total basket price	R546.00	R527.90	R525.90