Uber Eats’ South African unit on Thursday expanded delivery offerings, launching an app-based over-the-counter medicines service as it seeks to claw market share in the fast-growing online shopping sector in Africa’s most industrialized economy.

Uber Eats, a unit of U.S. ride-hailing service Uber Technologies already has a lion’s share in South Africa’s $600 million food dispatching market.The equally lucrative medicines delivery market is controlled by pharmacy chains Clicks and Dis-Chem, which offered delivery services long before COVID-19 spurred a shift to online shopping.

Analysts say such “first movers” including Naspers- owned Takealot, have a natural advantage over newcomers, especially with users increasingly seeking to use fewer smartphone applications to do more things.

But Uber Eats is banking on a “marketplace” strategy - combining ride-hailing and grocery deliveries and other services on a single mobile phone app that already has over 2 million users in the country, it said in a statement.

Its latest foray in the delivery sector is in partnership with local health group Medicare, which operates more than 50 clinics and pharmacies around the country, and will allow its app users to purchase over-the-counter medication.

“The nationwide lockdown and restriction in movement created an immediate need to accelerate our business in increasing the accessibility to daily essentials,” general manager of Uber Eats South Africa Shane Austin said.

“Which is part of the reason our focus has been towards on-boarding various other merchants onto the app, aside from just restaurants.”

In its latest Digital Market Outlook, information portal Statista predicted South Africa’s e-commerce market would see annual compound growth of 11% up to 2024, with the number of online shoppers growing to nearly 37 million from around 25 million currently.

Source:reuters

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Hyundai Motor Company and Uber have announced a new partnership to develop Uber Air Taxi for a future aerial rideshare network and unveiled a new full-scale aircraft concept for this flying taxi at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2020.

“Through the partnership with Uber, we will accelerate efforts to harness Hyundai’s businesses and technologies to deliver true freedom of mobility,” said Euisun Chung, Executive Vice Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group. “We will innovate tirelessly to redefine the boundaries of mobility and provide quality time to customers.”

“Hyundai’s large scale manufacturing capabilities offer a major step forward for Uber Elevate. As Hyundai taps its automotive industry experience to mass produce air taxis, we will be able to more quickly take Uber's platform into the skies developing Uber Air taxis, expanding affordable and seamless transportation in cities around the world," said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.

Nepal’s leading online shopping marketplace, Daraz and the global leader in digital payments technology, Visa, have entered into a partnership to drive forward online card payments in Nepal. Since the acquisition by Alibaba in 2018, Daraz’s payments ecosystem has grown to accommodate a range of electronic payment solutions to give customers greater latitude and ease-of-use when shopping online, leveraging Alibaba’s vast technology and experience. 

To start off this new partnership, Daraz and Visa are offering Visa card holders a 15% discount on prepayments till September 30, 2020. Customers can choose anything amongst 450,000 products ranging from electronics, groceries, lifestyle to fashion sold by more than 5,000 sellers on Daraz. Visa and Daraz users can enjoy a maximum discount of Rs. 500 by pre-paying only via a Visa Card that they have saved on the Daraz app. The discount offer can be used only once and includes all current Visa Credit, Debit and Prepaid Cards issued in Nepal.

“A collective effort is necessary in order to drive the development of the online card payment ecosystem in Nepal, and so, we are thrilled to collaborate with Visa. And with this initial offer, we want to provide our customers an added benefit for choosing the already more convenient and safe method of making online payments,” said Lino Ahlering, MD, Daraz Nepal. 

Shailesh Paul, Head of Merchant Sales and Acquiring and Cybersource, Visa said, “Digital payments and online shopping have become crucial in recent times, given the need for social distancing and less-touch. We are delighted to partner with a leading e-commerce player like Daraz to provide their shoppers with the convenience of paying online through a safe, secure medium. Our relationship with Daraz in multiple South Asian markets is proof of how established players can and should come together to enable and enhance shopping experiences for consumers.”

The demand for online shopping is growing rapidly in Nepal with a steady rate of adoption for online payments. With this partnership, Daraz and Visa jointly wish to ensure authentic, secured and hassle-free online shopping experience for the customers in the coming days.
 

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