AFRICA'S NO.1 FOOD, BEVERAGE & MILLING INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

South African retailers soar above riot disruptions, commence rebuilding, restocking

Jul 19, 2021Jul 19, 2021 Editor

SOUTH AFRICA – South African retailers are working round the clock to replenish shelves with groceries, food and other essential supplies in hundreds of stores which were looted in one of the country’s worst unrest in years. Supermarket owners have indicated that they are racing to keep stores unaffected by the violence stocked, as some shoppers were stripping shelves with panic buying, though blocked roads and disruptions to supply chains were hampering their efforts. In the affected areas i.e., KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, retailers are gearing up to rebuild the affected…

Carrefour Kenya plans to enter lakeside market with a bang, set for twin openings

Jul 12, 2021Jul 12, 2021 Editor

KENYA – Carrefour Kenya, operated by Dubai-based conglomerate Majid Al Futtaim, is set to open two branches in Kenya’s third largest city, Kisumu, in pursuit to get a piece of the lakeside’s growing middle-class shoppers. The two stores will be located at United Mall and Market MEGA, adopting the hypermarket and supermarket models respectively. They are set to open doors in July and August, offering customers an assortment of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) at affordable prices, reports Star News. “Kisumu is the third city we are investing in after Nairobi…

Pick n Pay fosters healthy competition in SA’s retail market, scraps off exclusivity lease agreements

Jun 15, 2021Jun 15, 2021 Editor

SOUTH AFRICA – South African retail chain, Pick n Pay, has heed to the call of the Competition Commission of South Africa to cease use of exclusive lease agreements in all shopping centres where it has set base. The Competition Tribunal, the body which has the final say on anti-competition matters in the country, has confirmed that the retailer has signed an agreement with the Competition Commission to end the use of such restrictive terms. Under the agreement, supermarkets that are privately-owned and controlled by historically disadvantaged persons (HDP) can…

Pick n Pay partners with Fortress to establish inland distribution site in South Africa

Jun 3, 2021Jun 3, 2021 Editor

SOUTH AFRICA – South African retail chain, Pick n Pay, has entered into an agreement with real estate investment company, Fortress, to establish one of the massive logistics centres in the country. The project will be undertaken at Fortress’s flagship premium-grade Eastport Logistics Park, close to ORT Airport in Gauteng, to cover 36 hectares of state-of-the art infrastructure. Pieter Boon, CEO of Pick N Pay indicated that the investment in the new inland distribution centre will give the company a competitive advantage. “Fortress’s Eastport facility will help us deliver key…

SA retailer Pick n Pay reports 21.4% decline in annual earnings weighed down trade restrictions

Apr 23, 2021Apr 23, 2021 Editor

SOUTH AFRICA – South African retail chain, Pick n Pay reported an increase in group turnover by 4.3% to R93.1 billion (US$6.5 billion) for the full year ended February 2021, compared to R89.3 billion (US$6.2 billion) attained in the previous corresponding period. The gains were however offset by trading restrictions on non-essential goods and services for parts of the year, which resulted in an estimated R4 billion (US$279.5 million) in lost sales, and R200 million (US$13.9 million) in additional costs related to the group’s operational response to the Covid-19 pandemic.…

Pick n Pay CEO Richard Brasher to retire in April, his shoes to be filled by former Metro AG COO

Jan 15, 2021Jan 15, 2021 Editor

SOUTH AFRICA – South Africa’s supermarket chain Pick n Pay has announced the retirement of Richard Brasher, as its Chief Executive officer with effect from April 21 after eight years at the helm. Basher will be succeeded by Netherlands-born Pieter Boone, former Chief Operating Officer of German retailer Metro AG. According to reports by Business Day, Brasher had initially intended to depart in 2020, but delayed the move to help guide the retail business through the COVID-19 pandemic and find a suitable replacement. During his tenure as indicated by company…

Pick n Pay steps in to rescue South Africa’s wine industry currently on its knees

Dec 18, 2020Dec 18, 2020 Editor

SOUTH AFRICA – South African retailer Pick n Pay has announced its commitment to purchasing 25 million bottles of wine in 2021 to support the local wine industry. This comes after the industry body Vinpro reported that the local wine industry has lost more than R7 billion (US$480m) in revenue following the ban on alcohol sales. The industry faces an unprecedented cash shortage and stock surpluses, as over 300 million litres of unsold wine languishes in warehouses and cellars. This is almost a year’s worth of wine sales. “There were…

Pick n Pay strengthens grocery delivery acquiring Bottles as it eyes Nigerian market

Oct 21, 2020Oct 21, 2020 Editor

SOUTH AFRICA – South Africa’s supermarket chain Pick n Pay has concluded an agreement to buy on-demand online delivery app Bottles to strengthen its e-commerce operations. Bottles, which has recently branched out into on-demand grocery essentials delivery, was launched in 2016 as South Africa’s first on-demand alcohol delivery app and partnered with Pick n Pay in 2018. The repurposing of it services happened earlier this year in March after a prohibition on alcohol sales was introduced in the country to combat the spread of Covid-19. “We are delighted to be…

Pick n Pay expects half year profit to plunge 60% despite growth in core retail sales

Oct 8, 2020Oct 8, 2020 Editor

SOUTH AFRICA – Pick n Pay, supermarket chain store in South Africa has warned that its half year earning will drop by as much as 60% due to business restrictions and high costs of operating triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company expects that headline earnings per share, the main profit measure that strips out certain one-off, nontrading items, could fall in a range of 50%-60% to between 34.01c and 42.51c in the 26 weeks to the end of August. Pick n Pay’s first-half performance which began on 2 March…

Pick n Pay upgrades online shopping platform with scheduled grocery delivery service

Mar 3, 2020Mar 4, 2020 Editor

SOUTH AFRICA – South African retail chain, Pick n Pay has launched an online scheduled grocery delivery service that enables customers to set up an automatic, weekly or monthly, delivery of items that are purchased regularly. Aimed at removing the hassle of manually placing regular online orders for essentials, this new online shopping feature, called Grocery Genius, offers customers an easy and more convenient way to re-stock products – from the week’s groceries to monthly pantry and household items. This new service is expected to further change the landscape of…