Pick n Pay V&A Waterfront store opening, 28 November 2013. View more images below

Fresh produce

Wine selection

Cheese counter

Bakery

Pick n Pay opens two premium stores as part of six month plan to open 64 stores

FMCG SUPPLIER NEWS

Nov 29th, 10:27

After an improved performance at the half year, Pick n Pay is demonstrating its commitment to pursuing positive growth through focused, streamlined operations and an expanding store footprint, with plans to open over 60 new stores in the six months to end February 2014. 

On Thursday 28 November, Pick n Pay unveiled its new premium store in Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront, together with the opening of a new store in the Cavendish shopping centre in Claremont in Cape Town. In the six months to 1 September, Pick n Pay opened 44 new stores across all formats with about 34,000 square metres of additional space; the most new stores opened by the group over a six-month period than in any other time in the last decade.

The company plans an additional 64 stores in the six months to end February 2014 with 2.8% more selling space.

To create the new Pick n Pay store at the V&A Waterfront, with a trading area of 4,300 square metres, an area of over 6,000 square metres was developed. The new store is ranged along similar lines to the company’s very successful premium On Nicol store in Johannesburg, and will offer a greater selection of fresh produce, local and international delicacies and an extensive in-store wine range. It is also flanked by a new Pick n Pay liquor store.

CEO Richard Brasher said the store openings represented a key element of the turnaround strategy for the business.

“A significant part of our strategy is to grow the business by opening stores in new areas where our customers want them, with product ranges that reflect the changing habits of our customers. We have spent a great deal of time looking at how to improve the shopping experience for our customers and a big part of that is to be where our customers need us to be. I believe our commitment to our customers comes through in the location, layout and design of our new stores which set a new benchmark for customer service,” he says.

Brasher also pointed to a decisive focus on priorities such as improving stock availability for customers by running more efficient distribution centres, improving product ranges and introducing better targeted promotions using category management and rewarding Pick n Pay’s 7 million smart shopper loyalty programme members by making it simpler, better and easier to use. The company had also been focusing its capital expenditure on improving the customer offer.

“We are encouraged by evidence that customers were responding positively to the decisive action taken over the past six months. The greater part of the structural changes and their associated costs are now behind us and our energy and focus has returned to the basics of good retailing and to growing our share of the market”.

During the six months to 1 September, Pick n Pay served more customers than ever before, increasing its customer count by 3.3% during the six month interim trading period, while processing 380 million transactions through its tills.