The urban ground keeps shifting

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Sub-Saharan Africa is the fastest-urbanising region on earth; cities are adding around 65 million new residents every year as rural migrants and young workers stream in.

Homes are rebuilt, recycled or replaced; renters come and go. A street address that seemed valid in January can be useless by July. 

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Why a fixed doorway fails mobile shoppers

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• Up to 20 percent of online orders across emerging markets miss their first delivery because the rider can’t find the customer.
• Every failed drop means extra calls, kilometres and refunds—losses that strip as much as 17 dollars of margin from each order.

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When the customer moves or the landmark disappears, a house-based address becomes a liability.

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Smart lockers turn an address into a service

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PickSpot lockers act as permanent, GPS-verified anchors scattered through neighbourhood hubs—fuel stations, malls, campuses, even village kiosks.

A shopper’s handle (for example stacy@pickspot.africa) lives on their phone and can re-point to any locker with one tap.

Couriers always see a stable drop-point; shoppers keep the same memorable ID wherever life takes them.

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Measured gains that move the bottom line

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• First-attempt success soars – networks that blend lockers with rider routes have lifted first-hit deliveries by more than 50 percent and trimmed transport costs by up to two-thirds.
• Route density rises – riders can clear dozens of parcels at one stop instead of zig-zagging door to door, slashing fuel and labour.
• Returns get simpler – lockers double as 24/7 return points, cutting reverse-logistics costs and boosting customer confidence. More than convenience — lockers add safety and inclusion.
• Secure storage keeps packages off porches and away from “porch pirates,” a growing problem as volumes rise.
• Privacy protection lets customers shop without broadcasting where they sleep.
• Universal reach gives students in hostels, gig-workers in shared flats and residents of informal settlements the same delivery reliability as gated suburbs.

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The takeaway

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In cities that reinvent themselves every season, tying logistics to bricks and mortar no longer works. A smart-locker address follows the person, not the building, delivering predictable economics for merchants and friction-free convenience for shoppers.

As Africa’s e-commerce market races toward USD 300 billion, lockers—and the persistent handles they enable—will be the infrastructure that lets growth arrive on time.

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