In less than 12 months, the Checkers Sixty60™ online shopping app has become a household name thanks to its unrivalled convenience and speed of delivery.
This scalable solution, an app that accommodates hundreds of concurrent users, and thousands of orders per day, has won Best Enterprise Solution at the MTN Business App of the Year Awards.
Awarded to an app that is specifically targeted at solving business challenges, Checkers Sixty60’s team of in-store shoppers are equipped with an easy-to-use Shopper App that allows them to simply scan each product displayed on the device’s screen to complete the customer’s order, enabling ruthless efficiency.
“We knew we needed to enter the ecommerce race to keep our brand relevant, but we wanted to create something new and never seen before. We wanted to enable our customers to shop for their groceries in 60 seconds and deliver in 60 minutes. We developed the app to achieve these two objectives,” says Andy Ridge, Shoprite’s Head of e-commerce who heads up Sixty60, whose team developed this entire ecommerce solution in less than nine months. A remarkable achievement for a big corporate.
Category sponsor Macrocomm is a leading IoT technology company with a growing portfolio of products and solutions to address several key challenges facing private and public sector customers in South Africa. This includes unique offerings for Smart City Management to embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
“Macrocomm is proud to be a category sponsor to the MTN App of the Year 2020 competition. Supporting, nurturing and celebrating local innovation is vital in the promotion of economic growth and the creation of competitive advantage. This year’s winner is an excellent example of how innovation makes a positive impact on business,” says Sivi Moodley, Group CEO of Macrocomm.
“This win is a great validation that we are on the right track. We have a great team of people who have made this happen and this award is for them,” Ridge says.” We are different because we didn’t try and copy what was already out there and change it by 10%. We totally redefined the online grocery shopping landscape in South Africa. 60-minute delivery is a game changer and for this reason we stand apart from the competition in South Africa,” he says.
Not surprisingly, given that the app has exceeded their wildest expectations, with people posting about Sixty60 extensively on various social media platforms, this app has not only been a great boost for the overall Checkers brand, but also resulted in Checkers Sixty60 winning the much coveted People’s Choice Award at the MTN Business App of the Year Awards, an award that is purely voted for by the public.
“We have changed the way South African customers shop for groceries online. No more difficult-to-navigate websites and long delivery lead times. For this reason, our app is loved by our customers,” says Ridge.
What is next for Checkers Sixty60? “We have only just started! We have an exciting roadmap of things planned for the future which we hope our customers will love,” Ridge says.
This year saw an unprecedented 726 entries into these awards, 92 of which were apps submitted for Best Enterprise Solution. Submissions in this category were all judged according to strict criteria, a solution that specifically focuses on business and companies, and whether they are a locally developed app that focuses on customer relationship management, storage, utilities, business solutions and sales or e-Commerce.
Advances in technology have drastically changed our world, and 2020 has certainly highlighted the vital role that digital technology plays in helping people to earn a living, pivot and communicate. Driving digital education and innovation across South Africa and empowering tech savvy entrepreneurs with the necessary recognition has never been more important.
