{"id":879159,"date":"2026-10-09T13:29:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T11:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=879159"},"modified":"2026-10-09T13:59:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T11:59:59","slug":"shoprite-coming-after-south-africas-major-banks-with-new-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/879159\/shoprite-coming-after-south-africas-major-banks-with-new-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Shoprite coming after Capitec, Absa, Standard Bank and FNB in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Shoprite has announced that its Checkers and Shoprite 60 Sixty service will now offer airtime, data, and digital vouchers on its online platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Whether topping up, sending to family and friends, or gifting, Shoprite and Checkers customers can now purchase airtime, data and digital vouchers, all through Sixty60,” the company said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shoprite said this service would be electronic and would be delivered to customers instantly via SMS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Purchases are delivered instantly via SMS to either the sender or recipient, and no minimum basket value is required,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new service will include airtime and data from all of South Africa’s major mobile networks, the company said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The offering includes airtime and data across all major mobile networks, namely Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, Cell C and Shoprite K\u2019nect,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will also offer digital vouchers for “popular platforms such as App Store & iTunes, Google Play, Uber and PlayStation Wallet Top Up.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These services are already offered by the retail giant in its physical stores, with the expansion being prompted by changing consumer demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Sixty60 is responding to this evolving behaviour by enabling customers to purchase airtime and data alongside their everyday shopping on the platforms they already use,” Shoprite said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said the decision was also prompted by the scale of airtime and data in the Value-Added Service (VAS) industry in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company referenced a report by Electrum<\/a>, which found that the VAS industry had a market size of approximately R500 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report also noted that approximately 95% of South Africans purchase either airtime or data, making it the most popular VAS offering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“With 95% usage, in a country where mobile access is often the only digital touchpoint, prepaid airtime and data is no longer a luxury\u2014it is a lifeline that supports modern human needs,” Electrum author Helen Whelan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report also found that banking apps were the most popular method for purchasing these products in South Africa, preferred over physical locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Airtime and data are among South Africa’s most frequently purchased value-added services, with 95% of consumers surveyed reporting that they use them,” Shoprite said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“While these services continue to be purchased through physical channels, digital platforms are increasingly important, with banking apps the preferred channel for 61% of airtime and data purchases.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sixty60 has been a major growth driver for Shoprite since it launched the service in 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travel restrictions and nationwide shutdowns in the following year fuelled the service’s popularity, with it continuing to grow afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While other retailers, such as Woolworths, Spar, and Pick n Pay have also entered the grocery delivery business, Shoprite has held on to a large share of the market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shoprite has added new services to Sixty60 to broaden its existing market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":815166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2108520366318457290","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2231442467676152","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17990060424069265","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[5223,7520,17414],"class_list":["post-879159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-checkers","tag-shoprite","tag-sixty60"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=879159"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":879183,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879159\/revisions\/879183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}