What does an app like Checkers Sixty60 cost to build?

For a shop or grocer with one to five branches, your own delivery service like Checkers Sixty60 costs from R250 000 to build with us, and R10 000 a month to run. That buys an app your customers order from, an app your drivers deliver with, and a dispatch screen where your staff hand out the orders. The drivers and their vehicles are yours, so they're not in that price.

The rest of this article covers what's in each piece, what Shoprite built that you don't need, and when it's better to stay on Mr D or Uber Eats. Everything we build for it is listed on our delivery apps page.

Why are shops asking for their own Sixty60?

Because it works for Shoprite. In the six months to 28 December 2025, Sixty60's on-demand sales grew 34.6%, according to Shoprite's interim update, well ahead of the rest of the group. Customers now expect to order groceries on their phone and watch the driver on a map.

An independent grocer, butcher, pharmacy or liquor store can offer the same thing to the suburbs around its branches. It doesn't need national scale. It needs the same parts, done well, for a smaller area.

Sixty60 is Shoprite's service, and we're not connected to it. We use the name because it's the delivery app everyone in South Africa knows.

What are the parts of a delivery app?

People say "an app", but a delivery service is four pieces of software that talk to each other.

Piece	Who uses it	What it does
Customer app	Your customers	Order, pay, pick a delivery slot, watch the driver arrive
Picking screen	Staff in the shop	A list of each order to pack, with swaps when an item is out of stock
Driver app	Your drivers	The day's drops in order, directions, proof of delivery at the door
Dispatch screen	Whoever runs deliveries	Every order and driver on one map, to hand out runs and move them

Behind them sits the part customers never see: stock, prices and payments. If the app shows a product you sold out of this morning, the picker has to phone the customer, and the order leaves late. So the stock count in the app must be the same one your tills use.

The shop version builds that in: the customer app sells from the same stock count, prices and payments as the shop.

What does the driver app do?

The delivery driver app decides whether the service feels professional. Ours covers:

• The run in order. Drops sorted so the driver isn't crossing town twice, with directions to each one.
• Proof of delivery. A photo at the door or a signature on the screen, saved against the order. When a customer says it never arrived, you can check.
• Updates without a phone call. When the driver sets off, the customer gets a notification, or a tracking link by SMS or WhatsApp if they don't have the app.
• Failed drops. When nobody is home or the address is wrong, the driver picks a reason and the order goes back to dispatch.

The hardest part to get right is tracking the driver while the phone is locked in a pocket. Apple and Google limit what apps can do in the background, to save battery and for privacy, and they check it when they review the app for their stores. It's why we test the driver app on real runs with your drivers before launch.

Is this only for shops? What about couriers?

No. A courier company or a distributor with its own vans needs the same driver app and dispatch screen, without the shop. Instead of a customer app, your business clients get a booking portal: they book a collection, and their customers get a tracking link. There's less to build, so courier software like that starts at R180 000. The monthly fee follows the size of your fleet: R6 000 a month covers 10 drivers, and each driver after that is R350 a month.

If you only need a courier app for your drivers and already have a system for orders, the job is smaller. We'd say so on the first call and price it as a business system, which we cover in what an app costs to build in South Africa.

What does the R10 000 a month cover?

The monthly fee pays for keeping the service running:

• hosting, with monitoring that tells us when something stops working
• fixes when something breaks
• the app updates Apple and Google require, usually once a year when they change their rules

Some costs grow with your orders, so we charge them at what they cost us instead of bundling them in: maps, and SMS and WhatsApp messages. A shop doing 20 deliveries a day and one doing 400 shouldn't pay the same flat fee for those.

The apps are published under your own Apple and Google developer accounts, so they appear in the stores under your business name.

What isn't included?

• Drivers and vehicles. The software runs your deliveries; it doesn't supply people. Most shops start with one or two drivers they already employ.
• Payment fees. Your payment provider charges its fee on each order, as with any online store.
• Getting customers to install it. People need a reason to download another app. Tell them at the till and in every delivery bag, and email the customers you already have.

What about Mr D or Uber Eats instead?

For many businesses, staying on a delivery app is the right answer. You pay nothing to build, and you reach their customers.

The trade-off is control. Mr D and Uber Eats don't disclose the commission they charge. When MyBroadband compared prices in June 2025, the same menu items at five restaurant chains cost between 14% and 40.5% more through the apps. The customer belongs to the app, too: you don't get their details to tell them about next week's specials.

Your own delivery app makes sense when:

• delivery is already a large share of your sales, or you want it to be
• your regulars order every week, so a reorder button saves them time
• you want the customer list and the prices to be yours

If you get a handful of delivery orders a week, it's too early. Start with an online store next to your shop, offer collection or a flat delivery fee, and come back when the orders are there.

Should it be an app at all?

Not always. Customers who order once a month are happy on a website with a tracking link. The app earns its place with regulars: saved shopping lists, one-tap reorders, and a notification when the driver is five minutes away. Your drivers need the app either way, because a website can't follow them around town. We go through this choice for other kinds of business in app or website.

How to get a number for your business

On a 20-minute call we'll ask how orders reach you today, how many branches deliver, and who drives. You get a fixed quote within two working days, and working apps on your phone every two weeks once we start. See what's included on the delivery apps page, get an estimate on the price page, or WhatsApp us on +27 73 453 8352.