{"id":650776,"date":"2026-05-29T14:11:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T12:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=650776"},"modified":"2026-05-29T14:13:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T12:13:42","slug":"new-checkers-sixty60-dark-store-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/business\/650776-new-checkers-sixty60-dark-store-in-south-africa.html","title":{"rendered":"New Checkers Sixty60 dark store in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Shoprite has rolled out another dark store to help speed up rapid deliveries on its on-demand delivery service Sixty60, especially in areas where stores are busy or inundated with high order volumes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The retailer told MyBroadband it launched its sixth dark store in an unspecified location somewhere in KwaZulu-Natal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company previously rolled out four dark stores in the Western Cape, located in Gardens, Maitland, Ottery, and N1 City, and one in Gauteng in Kempton Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three of the dark stores hold and distribute groceries, while the other three are used for general merchandise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term dark store is a bit of a misnomer, as these are not true stores directly accessible to customers. Instead, they serve as a product storage and distribution point for online order fulfilment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They can come in various shapes and forms and may be located at premises that don’t have the typical physical features of a logistics operation \u2014 at least on the outside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They effectively act as a micro-fulfilment centre for a retailer or on-demand service’s most popular groceries or fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shoprite already has an extensive store footprint for its on-demand Sixty60 service, which helps fulfill the majority of deliveries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Sixty60 deliveries are fulfilled from 894 stores nationwide, including 67 Shoprite stores, effectively creating a wide network of micro-fulfilment centres,” the retailer told MyBroadband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The dark stores support rapid product fulfilment in high-demand areas where Checkers supermarkets may already be operating at full capacity, serving both in-store and online customers.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sixty60 has continued to experience substantial growth in recent years. Most recently, Shoprite reported the service’s revenue increased 34.6% to R11.9 billion in the six months ending 28 December 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sixty60’s revenues also account for 10.3% of the retailer’s total revenues, much more than competing services contribute to their company’s revenue pot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scale of the operation requires a substantial workforce. Firstly, it has around 10,000 delivery riders and drivers on Shoprite’s wholly-owned Pingo contracting platform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other motorists and members of the public have sometimes criticised these drivers for disobeying road laws or driving irresponsibly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In-store shoppers annoyed by order pickers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Checkers Sixty60 order picker scanning the barcode on a can of diced tomaties ordered by a customer. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Around 8,000 Shoprite staff also work as personal shoppers who walk through the stores and pick items from Sixty60 users’ shopping lists off store shelves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These staff increase footfall in Shoprite and Checkers stores, which can be problematic for customers during busy shopping periods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By offloading some of that traffic to its dark stores, Shoprite can reduce friction with customers and help make its in-store shopping experience more pleasant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several other South African retailers and on-demand delivery services have also rolled out dark stores in recent years, although their primary motivation is to speed up fulfilment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The format was pioneered by UK retailer Tesco, which launched its first dark stores in 2009. It has only emerged in South Africa in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the earliest was Zulzi, which helped develop and continues to maintain the original Checkers Sixty60 platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zulzi has seven dark stores across Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Centurion, which fulfill over 5,000 daily orders with 300 drivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s largest e-commerce marketplace, Takealot, also uses dark stores for its TakealotNOW on-demand delivery service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Available through the Mr D app, the service lets people buy a range of FMCG items, including electronics like cables and plugs, and get them delivered in a short time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two MyBroadband readers have recently tested the service for computer peripherals and received their orders within an hour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woolworths also began rolling out dark stores in 2024, starting in the Cape Town CBD, to support its Woolies Dash on-demand service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it said the first store was a major success, the retailer has not provided any significant public updates on its strategy or further rollouts. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While Checkers Sixty60 fulfills most orders from its supermarkets, the dark stores help offload some order picking traffic away from busy stores, reducing friction between staff and customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":650843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[24178,100808,65429,83259,101524,97492,10412,12679,99027],"class_list":["post-650776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-checkers","tag-dark-stores","tag-groceries","tag-grocery-retailers","tag-last-mile-deliveries","tag-on-demand-deliveries","tag-online-shopping","tag-shoprite","tag-shoprite-sixty60"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650776"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650776"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":650852,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650776\/revisions\/650852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}