As South Africa’s online grocery delivery industry continues to blossom, Spar hopes that it can get its foot in the door with a late, late play from behind. Spar initially announced its partnership with Uber Eats to make that dream a reality in July this year, with the two now taking the deal to new heights.
Uber Eats gets a well-earned day at the Spar
While Spar and Uber initially envisioned bringing the number of locations on the app to a still-high 400 by the end of 2025, plans have now changed. Following a successful trial, despite only a few select locations being added to the app, the partnership will eventually support more than 800 Spar locations nationwide.
It’s easy to see why Spar wants in on the online grocery delivery game after watching the likes of Checkers and Pick’n’Pay perform miracles with their own services. Sure, Spar2U exists, but against the rest, it doesn’t have much hope of breaching the market without help. Enter Uber Eats, which Spar reckons can help it snag a slice of the pie. A slice 800 stores wide.
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According to McKinsey’s State of Grocery Retail 2024 report, online grocery sales have “grown 54% annually since 2019 to reach R23 billion,” with a large 26% of customers planning to increase their online grocery spend. “This surge reflects the same consumer appetite fuelling the rapid adoption of SPAR on the Uber Eats app.”
“Consumers no longer view delivery as a luxury, they expect it,” says Alex Troughton, EMEA RGM for grocery & retail at Uber Eats. “Expanding SPAR stores on the Uber Eats app means we’re not just enabling convenience – we’re reimagining retail around consumer behaviour, backed by data, insights, and real outcomes.”
