Due to the success of its on-demand delivery service ‘Woolies Dash’ Woolworths is opening dark stores to ensure timely fulfilment of online orders. Its first dark store opened in Cape Town’s CBD. A dark store is not open to the public but exclusively dedicated to fulfilling online orders. Investment in dark stores will enable it to improve their customers’ experience. This has proven to be the case with the Cape Town dark store which has markedly impacted product availability for online orders in the area. Normally, a local Woolworths store will fulfil a Woolies Dash order.

Woolies Dash shoppers compete with in-store shoppers at the store. This can delay the delivery of the order. With a dedicated location for online orders this problem is eliminated, leading to customers receiving quicker deliveries. The Woolworths on-demand delivery service reported strong growth for the financial year ended 30 June 2024. Its sales grew by 71%. Alongside this growth, Woolies Dash also enhanced its operational efficiency, achieving a 95% on-time or early delivery rate. This is a 10% improvement from last year, 2023. The service has also led to an additional 2200 jobs in the value chain over the last year.