DURBAN - Zulzi, a South African startup, is an on-demand delivery grocery platform that allows customers can order anything from major retailers.
During the coronavirus lockdown the startup was delivering essential goods for its various retail partners including Woolworths, Pick n Pay, Spar, Clicks, and Dis-Chem.
Zulzi operates in Gauteng, Western Cape, and KwaZulu Natal and delivers to the following cities Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, and Cape Town. The cost for the delivery of goods is R45.
According to Vutlharhi Donald Valoyi, Chief Executive of Zulzi, the coronavirus lockdown has had a significant impact on the startup.
"Zulzi grew by 400 percent a month before lockdown which was followed by 200 percent increase during the lockdown"," said Valoyi.
Zulzi, which was launched in 2016, also created 450 new jobs during the lockdown period.
Some of the cool features of the Zulzi app include a chat function that connects with the shopper in real time which is a very useful feature to have when you have products from the retailers that are out of stock.
Users of the app can also track the progress of their order and also track in real time the number of items picked by the shoppers on the app.
Some of the measures that the startup took to keep customers safe include:
1. We have been protecting families from the virus by ensuring that they can practice safe distancing
2. Our shoppers and drivers temperatures are checked every morning to ensure that customers are protected from Covid-19
3. We also sanitise the drivers and shoppers frequently and we have also given them protective masks and gloves.