Yesterday marked the successful launch of the Makro and Builders Mini Programs within the VodaPay Super App. These Mini Programs serve as the cornerstone of the shopping proposition in the VodaPay Super App. This launch follows Massmart’s announcement earlier this year regarding e-commerce as a Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) strategic growth vector.
The Mini Programs have been successfully delivered under the leadership of Sylvester John, the Group’s Vice-President for e-commerce who has been seconded from Walmart US to lead Massmart’s e-commerce transformation. Speaking about the launch, John said, “This is an important step in our e-commerce strategy which is underpinned by a mobile first approach which in this case will provide access to 43 million customers, 21 million mobile devices and 12.9 million 4G devices, with the additional benefit of data free access for all Vodacom users. Pleasingly, we have been able to deliver these Mini Programs in record time with the assistance of e-commerce software development experts from Walmart Global Tech (India).”
The Mini Programs are fully integrated with Makro and Builders’ existing online systems that also power the websites, enabling an integrated single user profile and shopper data between the Apps and web channels. The Mini Programs, which can be accessed through the Vodapay Super App, are rich in functionalities like ‘instant buy’ and ‘add to cart directly’, which involves a much improved customer transaction process that has been reduced from 5 steps to 2, with prompts encouraging customers to top up their online basket to qualify for special discounts, bundle ‘more 4 less’ deals and free delivery.
Massmart has benefitted from Vodacom’s support throughout this journey, with Sylvester John adding, “Vodacom have been incredible since collaboration began on this project and I would like to thank them for their partnership. This is Massmart’s launch-pad into mobile e-commerce Applications and we look forward to delighting our existing and new customers on this platform.”
Mariam Cassim, Chief Officer of Vodacom Financial Services, says, “The VodaPay Super App is characterised by its scalability. Our objective is to offer this capability to numerous businesses, across multiple industries irrespective of size. We are delighted that a respected South African brand such as Massmart and its companies can take advantage of the VodaPay Super App through their own VodaPay Mini Programs.”
The first two weeks of the launch will feature almost 450 App exclusive Makro and Builders deals, including surprise daily and R1 deals. The surprise deals will be released to customers daily and will be advertised on the Super App landing page with instant click through to the Builders and Makro Mini Programs. These exclusive deals will range in price points catering to all customers and cover products such as TV sets, power tools and electronics.