Good news about Takealot delivery changes

Takealot’s recent minimum order size increase to qualify for free delivery does not affect TakealotMore subscribers, a spokesperson for the online marketplace has told MyBroadband.

This comes after shoppers noticed earlier this week that Takealot had increased its minimum threshold for free delivery from R500 to R650.

Takealot confirmed that it implemented the increase on 1 October 2024.

Its standard delivery charge for non-qualifying orders has also increased from R70 to R75.

Same-day delivery will cost shoppers R95, while next-day delivery is R90 for orders below R650 and R75 for orders above the threshold.

However, the minimum spend requirements on TakealotMore’s free delivery benefits — those that have thresholds — remain unchanged at R500.

Takealot launched its subscription service on 9 May 2024, shortly after Amazon entered the South African market earlier this year.

It pre-emptively positioned TakealotMore to compete against Amazon Prime, which has not yet launched in South Africa.

Similar to Amazon’s subscription service, TakealotMore offers several discounts and delivery benefits.

However, unlike Amazon Prime, Takealot’s product offers two subscription tiers: the R39 per month Standard plan and Premium for R99 per month.

The TakealotMore Standard subscription includes unlimited free next-day deliveries and two free same-day deliveries per month for orders over R500.

TakealotMore Premium removes the minimum order threshold for next-day, weekend, and standard deliveries.

It also offers unlimited same-day deliveries for orders over R500, and ten free heavy or bulky item deliveries per month.

Both plans also offer a varying amount of free takeaway and grocery deliveries through the Mr D app.

When previously asked about TakealotMore’s uptake, the e-commerce marketplace said it had seen an “overwhelmingly positive” response to the subscription service.

Although both plans have seen strong growth, it said the Takealot Premium has proven to be slightly more popular.

Takealot offers a one-month free trial of TakealotMore, allowing customers to try out the service before committing to a subscription.

The table below summarises the differences between TakealotMore Standard and Premium.

Takealot last increased its free delivery threshold from R450 to R500 on 1 August 2022. It also increased its standard delivery charge from R60 to R65 two years ago.

Before that, the last time Takealot made major changes to its delivery thresholds was in March 2017.

Seven years ago, Takealot’s minimum threshold for free delivery was a mere R250, while standard shipping was R35.

When asked about the change at the time, Takealot assured that it would continue to offer free deliveries for orders above a minimum threshold as long as it remained a valuable, sustainable offering.

Takealot said at the time that it couldn’t keep its free order delivery threshold at R250 as it wouldn’t be sustainable without increasing its prices and delivery charges — neither of which it wanted to do.

“So the best option for our customers is to increase the qualifying minimum spend amount for every free delivery,” said Takealot.

“Making this change allows us to keep our prices low, delivery charges the same, and keeps our delivery options competitive with other South African online stores.”