Johannesburg – Game and Builders Warehouse owner Massmart is setting its sights on e-commerce growth with a possible new deal to acquire a majority stake in online shopping and delivery service OneCart.
It announced on Wednesday morning that “negotiations are at an advanced stage and Massmart is hopeful to conclude discussions in the coming weeks pending finalisation of a few key matters.”
OneCart is partnered with numerous retailers, including Pick n Pay, Makro, DisChem, Clicks and Woolworths among others, and allows customers to shop across multiple stores through the site, and have the goods delivered in one batch.
“The proposed acquisition is consistent with Massmart’s strategy to invest in and accelerate e-commerce growth, particularly in the fast fast growing on-demand delivery segment,” said Massmart CEO Mitchel Slape.
“A key objective going forward would be to invest in aggressively growing and fully supporting OneCart’s existing independent retailer marketplace model that enables customers to order from multiple retailers via a single platform.”
According to Massmart OneCart achieved year-on-year growth of 400% since its inception. The company was created in 2016 and launched to the public in 2018.
The announcement comes after Massmart reported earlier in August that it wrote down the value of Game by R570 million, and blamed weak sales on shoppers staying away from regional malls and retail centres due to Covid-19 concerns.
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