Retail group Spar stores has announced several changes planned for its stores in the coming months – including more food options and environmentally-friendly packaging.
This includes a revamp of its fresh food offering and home meal replacements through a new ‘Food Stall’ offering which has begun rolling at stores across the country.
Spar said that while its deli counters have long been popular among customers, the new food stalls are aimed at offering full meal replacements so that they don’t have to shop anywhere else – or get takeout.
The food stall will be a continuous focus for the group, with more being launched weekly, said Pianca Meintjies, Spar group home meal replacement manager. “The Food Stall at Spar offers a unique experience at every store, but in essence, it’s a range of freshly prepared, tasty and convenient foods.”
Meintjies added that the Food Stalls will offer different meals at every store, ranging from traditional local options to traditional takeout meals such as pies, chicken and pizza.
Packaging
Spar said it will also make environmentally-friendly changes to its food packaging alongside the rollout of its new Food Stall offering.
“It’s important to us that we offer responsible convenience, and that’s why we’ve invested in sourcing better packaging options available to all stores to complement the launch of their Food Stall concept in-store,” Pianca said.
The Shoprite Group also recently announced changes to its food packaging to become more food packaging, including rotisserie chicken packaging with fully recyclable, responsibly sourced cardboard boxes.
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Delivery
Spar also plans to fully stake its claim in the online shopping space in the coming months as it ramps up the rollout of its new online shopping platform, SPAR2U. The e-commerce platform will deliver both groceries and liquor, with the service already being piloted in some stores.
“There is great enthusiasm from our independent retailers to implement SPAR’s new online shopping platform, SPAR2U. Our online platform is receiving positive reviews and a large number of stores are preparing to launch online within their communities in the coming months,” the group said.
SPAR2U launches in a crowded online same-day delivery space – with Pick n Pay, Woolworths and Checkers all offering same-day delivery services. Checkers’ Sixty60 one-hour on-demand grocery delivery service launched in late 2019, just prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.
Pick n Pay acquired the Bottles app in October 2020, rebranding it to asap! in 2021. Woolworths launched its same-day service Woolies Dash in December 2020.
Source: Buisness Tech
