Spar has launched its grocery delivery service called Spar2U in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg. It will compete directly with Checkers Sixty60, Pick n Pay Bottles and Woolies Dash. I’m a huge fan of convenience and will try anything that will save me time so any on-demand app is immediately a winner for me, but it all comes down to efficiency.

QUICK LOOK

    • It is live for Joburg Northern Suburbs
    • The Spar2U app is available on Android and iOS
    • Minimum spend is R100
    • Delivery by same day slots is R35

Checkers Sixty60 is the gold standard for groceries now, with my quickest delivery taking 21 minutes. I don’t think any other service can top that. I also tested Woolies Dash, which was so inefficient, I don’t know how it’s supposed to be an actual business model – the shopper bought my stuff from a store 20km away from my location, not to mention traffic getting to me. This is how that went.

Anyway, I noticed a QR code at my local Spar till points and big posters everywhere that promoted downloading the app; so I scanned it and downloaded it in no time. Prior to that I noticed Spar branded electric scooters at dedicated parking bays so I knew it was coming.

Spotted on 13 February 2022

The app is a very small download at 6.7MB. It has a clean interface, with large tabs which looks good and easy to browse. When you tap the three menu lines on the top right of the landing page, you will see all the categories listed, another way to find what you’re looking for. And lastly, there is a search bar. But the results means scrolling through a lot of things to find what you’re looking for.

When you tap into a listing, the necessary info appears with a large image of the product. From a UX perspective, it has a lot of unnecessary white space. I like using the “similar products” viewers, especially on Sixty60, and on the Spar2U app, it appears in the tab next to description that you have to tap into; so it doesn’t appear by default. A big red bar at the bottom is for “add to cart” that you can’t miss. You can always see the tally of items in your cart on the top bar, whichever tab you’re browsing.

There is an option to allow for product substitutions, which you need to tick and fill in the notes what it is. Checkers lets you choose the product directly, which is better and less room for error. You can easily remove items from the cart, or increase quantity. I found the app only to have a tiny delay when you tap into a landing page icon, and there is no status bar indicating that it is still loading, so I ended up pressing a bunch. This is because I am used to things loading instantly. I thought the app was buggy but thats how it is.

When it comes to delivery, you pick a slot available to you. But it doesn’t work like Sixty60 where you get delivery within 60 minutes. Whether it’s 12:05 or 12:55, your next available slot will show at 14:00-15:00. I placed an order at 12:43 and chose a 2pm slot. At 13:37 I got an email to say my items have been shopped, and will be on its way to me soon, but in the app you can see the status.

At 14:05, the delivery guy was here. And you know what my favourite part was, the electric scooter obviously! It was refreshingly silent, also my cat would love that. The scooters are managed by SkyNet as it had their branding on it.

For me, the more options for the consumer, the better. So well done Spar on this roll out, I hope to see it available more widely. Love the electric touch!

First Impressions: I liked the clean experience on the app from browsing to adding items and making notes where necessary. I would need to try it more to see if all experiences are similar.
Would I use it again: I would absolutely use the service again. If I need something quicker though, I’d use Sixty60 for the 60 mins window, but other than that, it’s great to have options, and a bonus that it is an electric one 🙂