Big businesses don’t just want you as a shopper anymore. They want you as a subscriber. Takealot, Checkers, Amazon and Uber all sell memberships, and last Thursday Pick n Pay joined them with Smart Shopper Pro. For R99 a month, members get unlimited free asap! deliveries on orders over R350, extra points on fresh food and fuel, and 10% off one in-store shop a month. Pick n Pay even did the sums for you: four weekly deliveries would cost R148 in fees alone.
The terms largely mirror Checkers’ Xtra Savings Plus, which Shoprite launched in 2023 at the same price. Behind the promise of saving you money is a contest to become the place you spend it.
Why the fee is the small part
For a retailer, an ordinary purchase comes with no guarantee of another one. A subscription gives you a reason to come back before the next promotion even lands. The fee matters less to these businesses than everything you buy afterwards, so a company can afford to give up some delivery revenue if the membership brings in more orders, more often, from the same household.
Takealot has put a number on it. In its latest financial year, the first in which it made a full-year adjusted operating profit, TakealotMORE members accounted for 27% of the value of goods sold on Takealot.com. Naspers, which owns Takealot, says the programme deepens engagement and brings customers back more often. In the US, research firm CIRP found Prime members spend about twice as much as other Amazon customers.
Once you’ve signed up, you have your own reason to make the membership worth it. You might spot a special at Pick n Pay, but if you’re already paying for delivery perks at Checkers, there’s a reason to keep the order there. The same pull works in other industries too: Takealot against Amazon, Uber against Bolt.
One fee, many habits
That is also why memberships bundle different services together. TakealotMORE’s R99 Premium tier covers free delivery on Takealot orders, unlimited free restaurant deliveries through Mr D and free Pick n Pay grocery deliveries. Amazon Prime, which arrived in South Africa in June at R59 a month, adds Prime Video. Uber One, also R59, ties rides, takeaways and grocery orders into one membership. Bundling lets a company cast a wider net: you might join Uber One for cheaper rides, then start ordering takeaways because the delivery perks are already paid for.
The challenge is that everyone is chasing space in the same household budget. TransUnion’s second-quarter Consumer Pulse Study found that 28% of South African consumers had cancelled subscriptions or memberships. These businesses are betting that perks tied to everyday spending will survive that cut.
For you, the sum is whether the savings cover the fee. For the shops, it is whether the fee wins them more of everything else.
