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The queue outside Tops at Spar Rosmead in Claremont just after 09:00 on Monday 1 June. Lines weren’t as long as expected. PHOTOS: NETTALIE VILJOEN
LIQUOR TRADE AT LEVEL 3
Spike in online orders causes delay NETTALIE VILJOEN NETTALIE.VILJOEN@MEDIA24.COM
I
f you are one of those hopeful souls who think you can skip the long queues outside liquor stores this week by ordering alcohol online, well, think again. Online wine retailers report it will take at least one week, most likely two, before they will be able to return to regular dispatch times. Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s announcement on Thursday 28 May – that e-commerce sales will be permitted subject to the same onsite trade days and times as stipulated for premises with a liquor licence under lockdown level three – won’t help much either. It means that online wine retailers will only be allowed to dispatch and deliver orders between Mondays and Thursdays from 09:00 and 17:00. WineCellar.co.za, an e-commerce site with offices based in Observatory, sells fine wines at a high price level. However, Roland Peens, director of WineCeller.co.za, says the website has experienced huge growth at the R100-to-R200 level, with a 500% increase in
orders after president Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement on Sunday 24 May that the ban on alcohol would be lifted, starting yesterday, Monday 1 June. “Our backlog is around 2 000 orders, a full two months of sales which will need to be dispatched within a few days. Wineries and other retailers will have experienced similar surges in demand and couriers have already advised of three-to-seven days delivery delay,” he adds. A huge amount of stock will be required from suppliers to fulfil the orders placed across all online retailers during the lockdown. David Cope, director of CyberCellar.com, explains that most merchants don’t keep excess stock. He says that since suppliers are only allowed to deliver alcohol from level three, this is where the backlog comes in. “Cybercellar.com luckily has a warehouse of stock but we will also rely heavily on suppliers to deliver the moment level three begins. The spike in orders after the president’s address means that most orders placed last week will only be delivered the second week of level three,” Cope says. Logistical issues experienced by online wine retailers under lockdown will also slow down delivery times. Peens says Winecellar.co.za and wineries
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have been packing over the past few weeks. “This has eased the burden somewhat, but it has added enormously to space and logistical challenges. Suppliers began delivering from Friday 29 May for the first time, so we worked flat-out over the weekend to have orders ready for dispatch,” he adds. To ensure outgoing orders happen efficiently, Cybercellar.com has increased its fulfilment team and has arranged for more warehouse area to maintain safe distancing for employees to work within advised safety standards. Steps taken include lots of liaising with its suppliers in regards to the timing of incoming stock and the company has added new partners for both local and national deliveries. According to Cope, it’ll take at least a week to process and pack the orders already accumulated during the lockdown. “After the first week or two of level three, we should quickly go back to regular dispatch times (three-to-five days) even with increased online orders, since suppliers can deliver regularly and our team will have caught up the backlog,” Cope says. Asked when the turn-around time on online orders will return to “normal”, Peens says it all depends on how the couriers will manage the explosion in orders. “We are
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hoping all our orders will be delivered this week as there are very thirsty people out there.” He adds that people need not worry that e-commerce sites will run out of stock. “There is plenty of wine available to meet existing demand, in fact, the consumer will probably experience many discounted offers as wineries try to claw back two months of lost business,” Peens concludes.
Queues outside PicardiRebel at 27 Rosmead Avenue in Claremont just before 09:00 on Monday 1 June.
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