Last Mile for BoP was launched slightly over a year ago now by Arnaud Blanchet. The startup allows for informal traders such as spaza shops to not only search for goods and order stock, but also allows them to compare prices between alternatives.
Arnaud Blanchet started this business after observing that many spaza shops throughout South Africa were regularly out of stock and were forced to serve high prices on products they were serving to lower class customers.
The Last Mile for BoP now allows for the owners of spaza shops in South Africa to save up to 10% on their stock which allows them to lower their prices when selling to their customers.
Since the service is available for mobiles, they can take advantage of the app to perform everything they need to without even having to leave their shops. The app even benefits the suppliers, too.
Blanchet explains that the app also offers services such as banners, pop-ups, notifications, and other means of advertising to better get their name of your companies out there.
The app serves as a virtual sales representative that can receive orders 24/7 while accepting cashless payments.
Blanchet plans to use the solutions provided by the app to increase the distribution of social products.
He also plans to strike bargains with successful spaza shops that sell large quantities by offering them credit if they accept to use it on social products such as solar lights or clean cooking stoves.
The public launch of the app will occur in August. As of July 24th 2017, a closed beta test was run for a group of 150 spaza shops. The app will first open in Cape Town, the spread to Gauteng and Durban before the end of the year.