Tiendeo launches a cool new tool to avoid long queues and crowds in South Africa responding to the unique needs of RSA consumers and retailers

“Is there a queue?”, integrates the data obtained from Tiendeo’s  advanced geotracking technology with feedback from actual consumers in supermarkets. In this way, a real-time estimate of waiting times is generated, which allows consumers to plan before leaving their homes, thus reducing the stress of waiting times and risk of potential infection.

Socially responsible consumers who provide feedback are vital to the accuracy of this tool; their actions will help minimise risks for others in their community.

Tiendeo, the world-leader in geolocated retail offers and catalogs, today announced a tool hosted on its website that allows South African consumers to know in real time the waiting time in queues in the closest supermarkets.

The Tiendeo platform is a major driver of consumer physical store visits in South Africa: over 1.25 million South Africans use Tiendeo’s website Tiendeo.co.za and app to plan their shopping every month and for more than 400,000 RSA consumers it is a key part of their shopping routine.

South Africa is a digital-first and mobile-first culture, but ecommerce only accounts for a very small proportion of sales volume, and so in-store shopping is more vital than in Europe for example, where a culture of ecom is already established and that is why the “Is there a queue?” feature is so important: it uses digital channels, to provide real-time geo-localised information that consumers are crying out for: 89% of South Africans say they want to know this, so we adapted our technology.

Alex Hobbs, International Strategic Director for Tiendeo, points out: “Tiendeo is proud to be South Africa’s favourite shopping planning tool. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, our team of 200 has been working constantly on how we can help make the daily life of consumers easier and safer, and simultaneously support retailers to communicate more effectively.

Another example of how Tiendeo is seeking to help both retailers and consumers in South Africa, is that a special section has added to the Tiendeo platform to publicise opening times with direct links to retailers that offer ecommerce, and Tiendeo is committed to constantly updating this information.

Headquartered in Spain, Tiendeo operates in 45 countries affected by the virus and has used this experience and the fact they work with world-leading retailers such as Carrefour, Walmart, LIDL to create a dynamic promotions tool especially for retailers.

This tool enables retailers to only promote products that are in-stock in real-time. The tool can be embedded into retailers´ own websites and / or the the Tiendeo platform where all major South African retail catalogues are hosted on a geo-localised basis.

Alex stresses that “any retailer, or indeed the South African government, that wishes to promote public health and safety initiatives can do so at no cost on the Tiendeo platform”, we know how serious the threat is and have decided to put people before profit and align our skills and time to doing what we can to help.