Woolworths upgrades digital application as it reaches 2 million users

South African retailer, Woolworths, is expanding its online and digital shopping platforms with the aim to provide its local customers with an integrated omnichannel shopping experience.

According to the retailer, Woolworths, the upgrade will see its two mobile apps, Woolies Dash (its on-demand same-day shopping service), and the Woolies App (its main mobile app), integrate into one shopping platform, in an effort to offer customers an improved one-stop shopping experience.

The clothing and food outlet, Woolworths, continues to offer three key online delivery modes based on customer preference: scheduled delivery, click-and-collect (allowing online purchases to be collected in-store), as well as on-demand Woolies Dash.

Head of online at Woolworths, Liz Hillock said their primary target is to offer a seamless omnichannel experience as it is at the heart of their strategy.

The Woolies Dash application has been operating as a standalone app; however, with its exponential growth, the service will now be brought into the main app service offering, to provide more of the enhanced features that regular online shoppers are used to.

“A seamless omnichannel experience is at the heart of our strategy,” says Hillock.

“Our customers have expressed their preference to have one app to do all of their Woolies shopping and manage their services. With over 1.8 million users on the Woolworths app, it’s the world of Woolies in the palm of your hand.”

Over the past few years, the retailer has been investing heavily in its online platforms, having appointed more than 100 specialists to take its digital strategy forward.

According to ITWeb, Woolworths said early this year that “it was on a journey to ramp up its social commerce strategy, to enable shoppers to make purchases via Instagram and TikTok.”

“The retailer says over 50% of its e-commerce sales emanate from the Woolies App, and this is set to accelerate further by introducing Woolies Dash into the main platform,” reports ITWeb.

“Some of the features Dash shoppers can expect in the new integrated app include three Woolies Food delivery options in one place: scheduled delivery, click-and-collect, and on-demand; personal shopper in-app chat; seamless switch to fashion, beauty, and home shopping direct from Woolies Dash; order progress alerts and live driver tracking, and a full suite of Woolworths Financial Services.”

As per the report, the service is being scaled to 100 stores across the country with the app transition taking place in phases by the store until 6 October. Woolies Dash will no longer take orders from Friday.

By integrating its apps, the retailer says it’s also making some core ‘backstage’ and operational improvements that will allow it to exceed customer expectations – the Woolies App is available on the Google PlayStore and Apple App Store.

Images: Woolworths Store/Woolworths