Tired of not knowing when something you’ve bought online is actually going to be delivered to you? Just in time for the Christmas season, Takealot.com is offering customers a new near-realtime alert system so  you know where to be and when.

An email that went out to all Takealot customers today outlined the improvements the company is bringing in to make that happen.

It said that once your order has reached Takealot’s “courier partner”, an SMS will be sent to you detailing the delivery date and time slot your order has been allocated. Should the time not suit your schedule you should get hold of their call centre immediately to arrange something more convenient.

This is unexpected, but absolutely fantastic news. It takes out the guesswork as to when your parcel will arrive and even narrows down the time frame to within a few hours. Now that’s efficiency!

Let’s hope other retailers follow suit with similar policy updates.