• The Mr D app now lets you shop for goods at more local retailers in the Shops section.
• While this section features a number of convenience stores it also features gift shops, pharmacies, and other retailers.
• There are also reports that Takealot is trialling a Takealot Now feature in Mr D where shoppers can have items delivered in an hour.

The ecommerce and grocery delivery space is heating up in South Africa, especially if you’ve been watching the moves that the Takealot Group is making.

The firm’s Mr D delivery app already delivers food and groceries from Pick n Pay, but now it’s expanding. Opening up your Mr D app today will reveal a new section, Shops.

Under this section you will be able to shop for alcohol, pet care items, gifts, flowers, items from bakeries and healthcare products. As with the other sections of the app, the shops that are showcased are based on your physical location.

While many of these shops will look familiar, that’s because they used to be part of the Convenience category within the Food section of the app. However, we’re now seeing a few more local businesses we previously didn’t see on the app including a gift store, a florist and even a few local pharmacies. This is exciting as it means that small businesses could join the app and potentially reach customers they may not have previously.

Pricing will of course be determined by the retailer and we should note that there is a delivery fee you will have to pay which looks to be R15 from the multiple stores we looked at.

The platform has also brought its SnackMe gifting feature to the front of the Shops session so that it’s easier to send folks vouchers they can use.

This addition of shops won’t be the last.

According to a report from MyBroadband on Wednesday, Takealot is currently testing a 60-minute delivery service in parts of the Western Cape.

Dubbed TakealotNow, the service would form part of the Mr D app and offer delivery of notebooks, smartphones, toys and backup power solutions. These deliveries would be available until 22:00 each day.

Whether South Africans would use this regularly is questionable. Sure, Checkers Sixty60 made deliveries within an hour the norm but that, and other similar services, are related to essentials. Sure, Takealot sells groceries but that’s not its core business.

The items listed by MyBroadband is rather short as well, and while we’re sure it will be expanded over time, we just don’t see TakealotNow being all that useful on a day to day basis. With that having been said, we won’t deny that the prospect of having a new notebook or smartphone delivered to our house within an hour isn’t a little bit exciting.