As e-commerce continues to develop in South Africa, last-mile supply vans and vans are more and more changing into prime targets of hijacking syndicates, driving up safety prices for these firms, executives mentioned on Thursday.
New worldwide entrants to the market similar to US e-commerce big Amazon.com and fast-fashion on-line retailers Shein and Temu have additionally intensified the competitors for a larger share of on-line wallets.
Logistics vans transporting items in bulk and parcel supply vans are “spending an absolute fortune on safety”, together with prices for hiring safety to escort these automobiles on the street, Craig Pitchers, CEO of privately owned The Courier Man mentioned at an e-commerce convention in Johannesburg, including that these “kill our margins”.
That is along with the price of gas, which has soared for the reason that pandemic.
These automobiles are targets as a result of they typically carry invaluable items.
There are about 20-25 hijacks a day of supply vans and vans, Diederick Stopforth, business government at SkyNet Worldwide Categorical added.
Supply firms at the moment are compelled to maneuver high-value merchandise in cash-in-transit automobiles, Stopforth mentioned. However even these have more and more turn into targets, with common bombings of those automobiles and shootouts on the freeway.
South Africa has seen a pointy rise in on-line procuring after the pandemic created a possibility for e-commerce to lastly take maintain, with retailers and companies doubling down on investments in response.
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South Africa’s on-line retail sector grew 29% to R71-billion in 2023, commanding a 6% share of complete retail gross sales. This share is seen rising to 10% by 2026, a examine by World Large Worx confirmed.
All of this has introduced extra supply vans, vans and motorbikes on the street, with criminals taking notice.
Police have established and beefed up cash-in-transit activity groups in addition to growing visibility on the roads to take care of hijacks of those automobiles. — (c) 2024 Reuters
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