Amazon.co.za has around 4,900 pickup points across South Africa, about 28 times more locations for collecting orders than Takealot.
Amazon.co.za has around 4,900 pickup points across South Africa, about 28 times as many locations for collecting orders as Takealot.
Delivery pickup points have become an increasingly popular option for e-commerce businesses and their customers.
While not necessarily as convenient as receiving a package at home or the office, they can often be the preferred option for some shoppers.
Many are located at high-traffic properties near major arterial routes in cities. That means many people might be able to visit them on their way to or from work.
They also give the customer more control over when they can receive an item, rather than waiting for a driver to show up at any time during an hours-long delivery window.
For e-commerce and courier companies, the pickup model also offers a cost advantage. It is simply cheaper to ship multiple packages to a single point than to multiple personal addresses.
With lower fulfilment costs, online stores and couriers can also offer customers lower delivery prices. Some companies can also use secure pickup points as smaller distribution hubs.
One delivery driver might bring the packages to the locker, while another takes them the last mile to the customers.
Amazon has offered collection as a fulfilment option since its launch in June 2024, starting with around 3,000 locations.
Two years and two months later, the options have grown by 63%. Order collection is available from both The Courier Guy and Pargo.
The Courier Guy offers collection at smart lockers and kiosks. As of mid-July 2026, it had deployed 2,300 smart lockers.
The company was deploying around three new lockers per day at that time. If it continued at that rate, the total number would have potentially increased to over 2,435 sites by the end of August 2026.
The smart lockers are self-service, with customers entering a PIN provided by The Courier Guy on a screen. If correct, the locker compartment containing the customer’s package will unlock and open.
The system also supports drop-offs for sending parcels elsewhere or for returning items bought on Amazon.co.za.
Pargo uses extra storage at popular retailers and services, including BP, Clicks, Edgars, Engen, Shell, Woolworths, as its pickup locations.
If all of Amazon.co.za collection points were spread evenly across South Africa, the furthest distance any person would be from a pickup point would be roughly 10km as the crow flies.
Amazon told MyBroadband that the collection options were proving very popular with its customers and offered convenient alternatives when home delivery was not ideal.
This gives Amazon an edge over Takealot when it comes to offering customers the widest range of delivery options and convenience.
By MyBroadband’s latest count, Takealot had around 175 pickup points across the country. While still substantial, it had nowhere near Amazon’s reach.
Takealot has two types of pickup points: dedicated and Pick n Pay-based. Most are dedicated, branded Takealot facilities at shopping centres or malls, staffed by their own team.
The advantage of Takealot’s pickup points is that they can accommodate much larger packages than many of Amazon’s options. Bulky items like furniture can still only be delivered to a specific address.
