Massmart has confirmed that it has acquired 100 percent of last delivery firm WumDrop. The acquisition is of particular importance to some of the companies under the Massmart umbrella, with Makro in particular being highlighted.

This as the deal will allow Makro to facilitate quicker deliveries to customers, with it cutting down the previous lead time from three to five days, down to two days.

The capability should be up and running as soon as the end of June, Massmart confirmed in a press release sent to Hypertext, but there is one key caveat, with this delivery lead time limited to packages being sent within a 30 kilometre range of a Makro store.

“Through the use of proprietary technology, we’re able to take deliveries directly from stores to customers which eliminates the need for our own warehouse and allows drivers to easily navigate South Africa’s unique spatial environment, which can be a challenge for traditional couriers,” notes Simon Hartley, founder of WumDrop and Delivery Services executive at Massmart ecommerce.

“We continue to provide on-demand delivery services to our other clients in a number of sectors, including banking and fast-food, which increases the availability of drivers in key locations, and benefits a wider range of end customers with delivery distances of up to 60km from pick up,” adds Hartley.

Those who remember Wumdrop, will know that the company made a name for itself in 2017 for being able to deliver packages throughout the country based on your smartphone location. This was followed by Massmart acquiring a majority stake in the startup shortly thereafter.

Whether such functionality is on the cards for Makro’s ecommerce division remains to be seen, but it looks like the last mile of the process has received a much needed boost thanks to this recent 100 percent acquisition.

“As an end customer, you may never know you’re interacting with WumDrop directly, given its seamless and effective representation of the client business. Improved customer experience, consistency and accuracy are Wumdrop’s points of differentiation, in relation to faster delivery times, real time customer communication, driver tracking, and more,” concludes Hartley.