Mr D is evolving beyond food and groceries, becomes “full-on, on-demand marketplace”

Mr D, perhaps the country’s most popular food delivery app is, with help from Pick n Pay, evolving into a “full-on, on-demand marketplace, where you can shop for pet care, groceries, gifting, and more – all in one place.” That’s… a big deal. It’s also a little brave, what with Amazon’s rumoured South African launch just around the corner.

“We’re always looking for ways to add value to our customer’s lives”, says Alex Wörz, Chief Executive Officer at Mr D. “Which is why, in addition to doing what we do best — food — we are now bringing convenience as a service to our customers through our retail partnerships. And by letting local businesses list their products for delivery on our app, we’re giving independent organisations a chance to sustainably grow their operations while avoiding the high costs of setting up their own e-commerce channel.”

Spoilt for choice

It’s not getting rid of its already available items consisting of restaurants and Pick n Pay’s groceries, confectionaries and liquor, either. It’s only adding to the line-up, with the additions of pet care, gifts and “more”. In a release sent to Stuff, it said that it would be mixing in a few more retailers to fill out those new pet care and gifting tabs, “expanding what’s on offer from South African staples to more niche offerings.”

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It’s not quite takealot (and certainly no Amazon), but the offerings from the ‘Shops’ tab in the Mr D app do offer quick convenience on some niche items. Forgot to pick up some flowers for a special occasion? You can have them delivered – as long as there’s a store nearby that’s signed up to Mr D. The same goes for the slew of different pet stores available on the app, with the availability of stores and items depending heavily on your location – just like with restaurants on the app.

We’re hopeful that this isn’t it for Mr D’s marketplace ambitions, and that a few more stores make their way onto the app for delivery. Now is definitely the time to pursue it, before Bezos’ global marketplace (allegedly) takes over the country in the coming months.