Pick n Play: Retail giant unveils sizzling new App to swipe back market share
South Africa's second-largest retailer, Pick n Pay, has reached its most significant milestone yet as it continues to try grab market share from rivals Shoprite and Woolworths.
South Africa's second-largest retailer, Pick n Pay, has reached its most significant milestone yet as it continues to try grab market share from rivals Shoprite and Woolworths.
The loss-making company is in the midst of a turnaround strategy, which targets operational and financial recovery. In releasing its results for the 53 weeks to March 2, it said that its headline loss – a key metric for analysts – improved from minus 172.3c to negative 61.54c.
As part of its digital focus, it has launched a new app that pulls together its on-demand delivery service asap!, Smart Shopper loyalty programme, and value-added services into a single, next-generation platform.
'This new app is the biggest moment for Pick n Pay Online since we launched asap! in 2020' said Enrico Ferigolli, retail executive of Online at Pick n Pay on Monday, noting that this is the culmination of a four-year journey.
'Pick n Pay remains focused on innovation, adaptability and income diversification through its popular Smart Shopper programme, growing Retail Media capability, and omnichannel platforms, while expanding value-added services revenue,' it said in a statement to investors on Monday morning.
Pick n Pay's new app – 'Pick n Pay asap! and Smart Shopper' – works off an AI platform and has a new user experience that targets making consumers' lives easier when they shop, save through Smart Shopper, and get their groceries delivered. These improvements are expected to drive strong growth in the coming year.
The integration of AI means that it will learn from customers' shopping behaviour, offering smarter product suggestions and streamlining the browsing experience. 'Our AI helps customers find what they need faster or discover products they'll love,' said Ferigolli.
The original asap! app will remain live until the end of September 2025, before the new app becomes the primary one.
Despite making a loss, at Group level, with Pick n Pay as a segment yet to return to profitability, it noted in its annual results that its Pick n Pay's Online business, primarily asap! and PnP groceries on the Mr D app, continues to perform 'strongly'. Online retail sales for the 53 weeks to March 2 grew 48.7% year-on-year, with on-demand growing at 60%. 'Thanks to scale gains, the Online business is now profitable on a fully costed basis,' it said.
In a statement to shareholders, the group said that 'while much has been achieved, the challenge to return Pick n Pay to a profitable and future-fit business remains very real'. It added that 'the path back to break even, profitability and ultimately long-term sustainable success is clear; and will be executed on in a considered and methodical manner'.
CEO Sean Summers, brought out of retirement to fix the entity, said 'we have started to give much-needed attention to our core Pick n Pay supermarkets and we are pleased to see the early results in reporting positive like-for-like sales growth, notwithstanding the sustained pace of new store openings by our competitors in a restrained and competitive market'.
However, getting its Pick n Pay unit right will take longer than expected as it's focusing on building 'retail muscle memory for long-term success'. It now expects this segment will reach breakeven in the 2028 financial year. Summers' contract has been extended to the end of the 2028 financial year.
Its new app offers a basket limit of 45 items, access to over 35,000 products, and has grown to 600 locations across South Africa.
In addition to the new app, pnp.co.za – its online shopping portal – will relaunch with the asap! on-demand service rolling out from June, with streamlined logistics allowing the company to lower the delivery fee to just R35.
'This is just the beginning. In the coming months, we'll introduce even more exciting features to make shopping Pick n Pay easier and launch features to resolve customer queries faster, improving the overall delivery experience,' said Ferigolli.
New features on the app, built for iOS and Android, include being able to select their preferred store, load multiple payment cards, place multiple orders at once, schedule deliveries outside of the standard one-hour window, and track orders.
Customers can now earn and spend Smart Shopper points with every order, and soon, they'll be able to redeem personalised discounts and Club benefits.
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