The last thing we expected with the outbreak of the novel coronavirus is a spike in preppers. Doomsday preppers used to be in the minority, filling up bunkers with canned food and guns. Now every Jan, Piet en sy vrou are buying ludicrous amounts of household items. Stores are running out of toilet paper, sanitizer, baby wipes and sometimes even food items.
Luckily there are a few ways to get your groceries to you without even de-reclining your lazy boy. Also, you shouldn’t be in your lazy boy right now — go work you lazy boi (or girl)
Most of the well-known grocery stores in South Africa have their own eCommerce sites. Some even have apps, that make it far more accessible. But self-isolation due to the virus, combined with load shedding worries, many smaller businesses are having a bad time. Support local and all that jazz.
Taking names
The easiest method would be to go with the big names: Checkers, Pick n Pay, Dischem, Clicks, Takealot, Woolies etc. Most of these have their own platforms and apps. Let’s check it out.
Woolworths: South Africa’s favourite higher-end grocery store offers online shopping on its website and the app. If you’re lus for a fight over toilet paper, head to your nearest branch rather. But this is a great way to get overpriced avocado’s delivered to your door.
Sixty60: Checker’s online shopping app promises to deliver your whole order within 60 minutes of ordering it. The website states that it operates in “selected parts of Cape Town (CBD, Atlantic Seaboard, Southern and Northern suburbs) and Johannesburg (Melrose and Bryanston).” Sorry for you if you’re not fancypants.
Pick n Pay: Good ole Pick n Pay is also on the list, because not everyone can afford half-empty water bottles. You can order any Pick n Pay items from its website and have it delivered to your house directly. It delivers to a whole host of suburbs in SA, but you’ll need to check if they deliver to your area before ordering.
Makro: The big bulk boi of stores, Makro, also has an online store where you can buy all the bulk toilet paper your heart desires. Makro also does deliveries nationwide — so there’s no good reason to fight people in-store and risk getting sick.
Raru: If there’s anything you cannot find on any of the above stores, Raru will likely stock it. This is for all the odds and ends around the house, like dog food, console and PC games, cat toys, books, whatever you need to outlive the isolation period — get it from Raru.
Keeping clean
We understand everyone needs to eat, and stock up on bog roll, but hygiene is especially important right now. For everyone. This is why sanitisers and Vitamin C effervescent are sold out everywhere in Joburg.
Dischem: These dire times call for even more cleaning products than ever before. People have never had this intense an urge to buy Dettol’s whole line of products. If you’ve got a prescription with Dischem, you can order it ahead of picking it up in-store. That means no more queues and no more corona. Don’t take our word for it though.
Clicks: The only thing different from the Dischem online store here, is that its evident Clicks is more focused on medication. You can get just about any over-the-counter medication online here, which is very nifty. Better stock up on some Vitamin C (apparently it’s sold out everywhere else.)
Yuppiechef: Just an honourable mention, because we all love pretty and functional kitchenware. Get yourself a Smeg gas stove for load shedding and have it delivered because of the virus. Everyone wins!.
Make it easy on yourself
As we can see, there are almost too many grocery stores to choose from. Online platforms have brought everything far closer to us, and now it seems we can order anything we want across the board.
OneCart: Imagine literally taking a trolley (don’t do this) and walking through the mall. In each shop, you take what you want, fill the trolley and ultimately pay at the mall’s exit. This is what OneCart does. Using the website or app, you can order a bunch of things from different stores and it’ll be delivered to your house.
Zulzi: Using Zulzi, you can order your fresh groceries, liquor or medicine from Woolworths, Pick n Pay, Dis-chem and Clicks for a delivery fee of R45. The Zulzi platform apparently delivers your order within an hour or less. You’ll also need to check if it’s available in your area first.
