What it's like to experience automated shopping at pioneering new concept store in Diepsloot

Located on a corner facing the parking lot at Chuma Mall in the heart of Diepsloot township in Johannesburg is Skubu — a shop that has had customers flocking in numbers to purchase essential goods in its first month of operations.

The shop has dispenser machines which allow shoppers to buy household basics in the quantities they want, using their own containers. It is intended to offer cost savings for lower-income households and reduce the use of plastic.

Before making a purchase, customers need to load their shopping money onto a card bought for R10. The card is a one-off payment.

The self-service “smart machines” fill up the container with the quantity the customer selects.

The store was busy when TimesLIVE Premium visited midmorning on a weekday, with many residents bringing their own bottles and buckets to stock up with goods. Shoppers were pleased to see the prices of the goods. The store was packed, and moving around was not easy. 

“Things are expensive in other stores,” said Rachel Lebese, a Diepsloot shopper. “Here, I save R10 to R15 when I buy 10kg of Omo.”

Lebese said a friend told her about Skubu, and she’s been coming here ever since. “I feel the shop keeps their products clean and at good standards.”

Another customer, Priscilla Mdlalose, couldn’t hide her excitement as she filled her bag with washing powder. “In other places, Omo costs R75. Here, it’s only R60,” she said, pointing at the product pouring from the machine.

She also bought sugar and was surprised at how much she got for her money.

The automated refill machines dispense goods such as washing powder, sugar, cooking oil and other basics. The oil was a popular purchase with shoppers at the store when the TimesLIVE Premium team was there.

Goods are sold by weight — grams, kilograms or litres. The goods, most of which are popular brands, are marked with expiry dates.

The store is spotless and the machines are clean.

Comparing prices, 500g of brown sugar costs R10 at the store, compared with R14 at Makro, R19 at Pick n Pay and R20 at Shoprite.

A scoop of 538g of sugar costs R16 at the SoPurist store in 7th Street, Linden, which also operates a zero-plastic packaging system. The weight difference is because the system there is manual — with the shopper using a scoop to select their preferred quantity, which is weighed at the till.

There is an array of cereals, nuts, seeds and dried fruit, tea and environmentally friendly cleaning items on offer. The items are presented in rows of covered bins across a spacious store. Paper bags and glass bottles can be purchased in-store if the shopper does not have their own containers.

Skubu currently employs five workers and serves dozens of shoppers each day. However, the store’s small size sometimes leads to queues when customer numbers rise. The store manager said they’re still fine-tuning the system.

Sharleen Mokgopa, a customer assistant at Skubu, said some first-time shoppers are intimidated by the automated machines. “Using automated machines can be quite overwhelming. Customers get confused sometimes, but we teach them and stand next to them while they use the machine. Once they learn, they can do it by themselves the next time they come,” she said.

Run by Sonke Retail in partnership with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the department of science, technology and innovation, the Skubu Project is part of a broader effort to promote eco-friendly solutions.

The initiative is funded through the Circular Economy Demonstration Fund and also receives support from Transform, a global partnership between the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Ernst & Young and Unilever.

Sonke's software traces the stock from receipt to dispatch, machine restocking and sale to the shopper.

“The launch of Skubu marks a significant step in integrating circular economy principles into retail, demonstrating how innovation and sustainable business practices can benefit communities. Beyond environmental benefits, the demonstrator also tackles food security by allowing lower-income citizens to access quality products in smaller quantities at more affordable prices,” said Prof Linda Godfrey, principal researcher at the CSIR.

“Skubu is a great demonstration initiative to show how circular economy principles can be implemented through collaboration. The intention is to focus on the national system of innovation, which looks at how a country creates and applies new ideas to improve technology and grow its economy. This includes bringing universities and science councils closer to the private sector to help de-risk and scale circular interventions.”

Skubu hopes to expand to other townships including Alexandra and Thembisa in the near future. They are training customer assistants through the Afrika Young Tikkun programme, helping build future leaders in retail.