Avo’s auto, home ecosystems become client drawcard

Nedbank Avo customers mainly use the super app to buy “new wheels”, says Vishal Maharaj, executive for digital.

Maharaj was speaking yesterday at the announcement of Avo 3.0 − the latest version release of the platform − in Sandton, Johannesburg.

Sharing insights on consumer behaviour on Avo, he stated: “We’re seeing significant visits to our auto ecosystem, the Avo Auto proposition, on a daily basis. I’m talking in the field of 10s of thousands of unique visitors on a daily basis. I just think people love to look for cars online.”

He pointed out that Avo’s shopping vertical in the home ecosystem is also attracting customers. “Our deals have created a cult following around people coming back often to look at our deals in the shopping vertical, which includes fashion, homeware, furniture, electronics and appliances. We’re probably one of the largest resellers of Smeg products in the country.

“People like visiting shopping; we’d like them to visit our on-demand vertical a lot more. In terms of our takeaway vertical, South Africans have their favourites in the market but we’ve got a great proposition because we are the cheapest in the market right now.”

The big-four bank introduced its auto and business-to-business ecosystem to Avo in the first half of this year. Avo Auto hosts more than 140 MFC-accredited dealers, with around 7 000 vehicles being sold on the platform.

Avo by Nedbank was launched at the start of the national lockdown in 2020, offering essential services online during the lockdowns.

The super app, according to the bank, has since matured into an all-encompassing, multi-sided platform, serving consumers and businesses.

It allows customers of any bank to shop for groceries, tech, professional home services like plumbing, prepaid electricity, airtime and data, liquor, takeaways, and most recently healthcare solutions, via a single platform.

Nedbank Group chief digital officer Ray Naicker revealed the super app now has a customer base of more than 1.7 million, adding that over 24 000 partner businesses have joined Avo.

According to Naicker, Avo is a key element of bringing Nedbank’s digital strategy to life, to meet customers’ enhanced needs and moments in their lives.

“The vision for Avo is really to be relevant in the lives of our customers, individuals and businesses in their moment of need. Whether it is shopping for groceries, buying your next smartphone, upgrading your phone, data and prepaid-airtime − anything that is relevant in your life, you should be able to do it on Avo.

It equally provides business-to-business support that allows small, mid-sized and large businesses to engage on the platform, while supporting them to grow and providing them access to this marketplace.

Avo 3.0 combines the learnings of the last two-and-a-half years and packages it around being a purpose-built brand, said Maharaj.

Among the new Avo 3.0 enhancements is a feature called “stories”, allowing customers to watch a video of desserts being made, for example, and then through one click on Avo, shop the items on the super app and have them delivered to their home, free of charge.

“That is purpose. That is taking the hassle out of life and making it convenient for every one of us, to focus on stuff that we should be really focusing on.”

Also among the features is global cart, he stated. “Through global cart, the user is able to place various orders from different outlets in one single basket, one single payment and one single checkout, and we’ll take care of the delivery for you. It hypes up the ability for us as families and as communities to access goods.

“What you’ll see a lot more of in Avo 3.0 is our ability to get more of those aspirational goods into the hands of consumers, providing efficient and effective streamlined financial services.”

In the case of Avo Auto, launched with the Avo 2.0 iteration, it will go live with “park and sell” in the next couple of weeks, the Nedbank executive revealed.

A seller can list their vehicle to private buyers and a network of dealers that can bid for the vehicle. “This will allow consumers to virtually put their car in our parking lot and sell their cars to the myriad of dealers that we have through our relationship to our MFC division at Nedbank, so that they can get the best deal for their car.

“Usually when you sell your car privately, you don’t know who you’re trusting on the other side – who’s the buyer, are they in good standing. In this marketplace, you can trust that experience and hopefully you’ll get the best price for what you’re looking for.”

Fellow Africans are starting to see South Africa as a great place to shop for vehicles because of cheaper prices, acclimatisation and it’s easier to get parts in SA, Maharaj stated.

As a result, the bank will introduce Avo Auto exports, which is expected to go live in markets such as Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, in the next week or two.

“We’re becoming a really big exporter of second-hand vehicles. Avo has a marketplace of second-hand vehicles that we are now going to distribute to an audience of users across Africa and get them to buy.”

Maharaj concluded that Avo will be an authorised reseller of Samsung products, after recently finalising a deal with the South Korean electronics manufacturer.