Financial Mail and Business Day

Black Friday a boon for Picup

Mudiwa Gavaza

Last-mile delivery logistics platform Picup says it doubled the number of packages delivered for businesses with online orders during the Black Friday weekend, a sign of rapid e-commerce growth in SA.

Last-mile delivery logistics platform Picup says it doubled the number of packages delivered for businesses with online orders during the Black Friday weekend, a sign of rapid growth in e-commerce in SA.

The technology platform normally delivers 18,000 to 21,000 parcels a day, but the Karooooo-backed company pushed that to 121,000 over the November Friday, Saturday and Sunday period this year, an average of 40,000 a day, CEO Antonio Bruni told Business Day. In 2021, Karooooo, owner of vehicle-tracking platform Cartrack, acquired 70.1% of Picup, a technology business offering crowdsourced last-mile delivery services for retailers.

Picup uses a network of drivers and delivery partners —

similar to Uber or Mr D Food —

to offer courier and other delivery services to businesses. Clients include groups such as Dis-Chem and Pick n Pay.

Bruni says e-commerce —

which more than doubled over the Covid-19 lockdown from under 2% to 4% of total retail in SA — did much to keep the local gig economy afloat. “There’s this big resurgence of the gig economy coming through again. The ability for these individuals to work when [and how] they want to work is important,” he said.

Picup’s boost in activity due to increases in online purchases during Black Friday is supported by transaction data from Absa.

Tshipi Alexander, head of card issuing at Absa Everyday Banking, says the bank had a recovery in Black Friday activity to about 2019 levels, before Covid-19 took hold. Transactions were 26% higher than in the matching period in 2021.

According to the bank’s data, the largest spend was on groceries, with Alexander explaining that “online retail and e-commerce were the real winners of the day”.

Absa recorded 127 transactions a second on Black Friday.

In SA, where unemployment tops 30% of the employable population and close to 2-million jobs have been shed in the past two years, freelance or “gig economy” work, such as ride hailing and food delivery, have become a lifeline for many.

However, gig economy platforms have come under fire in SA and around the world.

Ride-hailing drivers, for example, who have for years been fighting for protection under the law, say they want more than simple employee status. They argue that the relationship between drivers and platforms is more complex in SA than in other parts of the world.

Drivers say that they are also concerned about an unsafe working environment amid at times violent rivalry in the transport sector.

Bruni says their platform has been a force for good in the local economy, paying drivers an average total of R4m a week. “Our legends work hard. It gives people the opportunity to earn a decent living in the time that people have to work. It’s not like a 9 to 5. You can work in the morning, afternoon or evening, depending on what suits you.”

Picup has managed to more than triple its network of drivers since before lockdown, a sign of growth in e-commerce and increased demand from businesses looking to offer online sales without having to spend on their own vehicle fleets and other infrastructure. From about 1,000 registered drivers before lockdown, the technology company now has about 5,000.

On average, the platform has 2,500-3,500 drivers working on a weekly basis.

Bruni says the company is careful to not have too many people on the platform to balance the demand from business while technology advises on how and where to recruit. Picup’s business continues to attract large groups. With lastmile delivery logistics having become one of the highest growth sectors globally, JSElisted Stor-Age recently partnered with Picup to launch the first delivery hub at one of its properties in Craighall, Johannesburg.

This followed a successful pilot project with Picup in Stellenbosch in which Stor-Age uses its existing properties as a consolidation point for Picup’s network to deliver packages within a 10km-20km radius.

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2022-12-05T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-05T08:00:00.0000000Z

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