Avo by Nedbank, South Africa’s first super app, is now connecting over 1,5 million South African consumers to 21 000 businesses, delivering savings and value in everything from shopping to takeaways – and now even vehicles.
Avo launched at the beginning of the national lockdown in 2020 and offered essential services in a time of need. Avo has since matured into an all-encompassing multi-sided platform, serving consumers and businesses. Through an array of partnerships with businesses of all sizes, Avo offers the most compelling integrated solutions for businesses to grow, bringing their goods and services to the market more effectively by leveraging Avo’s platform.
‘A combination of an accelerated move to digitalisation and changing consumer behaviour is pushing South Africa from a fragmented e-commerce environment where numerous sites serve individual businesses and consumers to a powerful, consolidated platform of thousands of businesses and consumers on a one-stop super shop in the form of Avo,’ says Ciko Thomas, Group Managing Executive: Retail and Business Banking at Nedbank Group.
Celebrating two years of making South African’s lives better
Avo is steadily building a reputation for some of the best shopping deals in the market and is now scaling its on-demand delivery services. Avo is now selling menu items of over 800 restaurants and liquor outlets – and with a fleet of over 10 000 drivers, Avo offers free delivery too. Avo’s aim of getting food and alcohol to your door in under 60 minutes from the moment the order has been confirmed, is becoming a massive help to both businesses and consumers, especially considering that food deliveries can push costs up by an average of 30%.
Since 2020, Avo has continued to prove its worth in the market, evidenced in the scaling of customer registrations, which has witnessed a meteoric increase of 4,7 times year on year. By the end of 2021, the volume of goods sold tripled, and this year Avo continues to see steady uptake by consumers.
Bigger, better and more convenient car buying.
In 2021 Avo saw increased diversification taking place. With 250 000 customers and 17 000 merchants by its first birthday, this super app was on a mission to help make customers’ lives super easy. Launched in August 2021, Avo Auto – an end-to-end virtual vehicle mall – now hosts over 140 MFC-accredited dealers and more than 6 000 cars on auto.avo.africa .
‘Avo Auto is accelerating digital transformation in the automotive retail industry. Vehicle buyers can check vehicle affordability, apply for finance, connect with dealers and get the best secure digital experience while vehicle sellers – dealerships – are afforded an alternative route to market,’ says Julie Vetter, Executive: Digital Fast Lane at Nedbank (Avo Auto). ‘We’ve even had the opportunity to sell a Ferrari through Avo Auto recently, which is testament to the platform’s capabilities.’
‘Carbon Black specialises in selling high-end cars, and that can be a challenge. We need the banks to see the deals as we see them – fortunately, we came across the Avo team. When we sold the Ferrari, we realised we can sell a lot more on Avo Auto,’ explains Carbon Black Auto’s Finance Manager, Reza Bowers.’
Facilitating business trade
The launch of Avo B2B Marketplace is a game-changer for the industry. Not only can businesses trade conveniently and access new markets efficiently on one platform, but they can also manage various functions throughout the value chain, underpinned by secure payments and seamless access to working capital.
To assist businesses in our post-pandemic economy, Avo B2B’s essential account is free to use, and provides added value at a small fee through their standard package.
Doing life differently beyond our #Avoversary
Avo will continue to offer enhanced value for money to its customers and is accessible to all, and you don’t have to be a Nedbank client to use Avo – you simply download the app and register. With nearly a quarter of a million products and services to choose from across 11 compelling propositions, it’s not hard to see the value of an app like Avo.
More recently, Avo has become an authorised reseller of Apple products, bringing highly attractive deals to customers. Avo has the advantage of offering some of the best-in-market credit finance to products made available in a quick and efficient manner for all South Africans – like the Apple Home Bundle, valued at R1 499 per month over 24 months.
