Pick n Pay taking back control of its stores in South Africa

Following the conclusion of its store estate reset plan, Pick n Pay is now converting many of its franchise stores into company-owned supermarkets.

In the first half of its 2027 financial year, the retailer converted 10 franchise stores, bringing total conversions for the past 12 months to 14.

At the same time, Pick n Pay is also converting some of its underperforming stores into Boxer supermarkets.

This was revealed in Pick n Pay’s results for the six months through August 2026, which showed some progress for the retailer amid its turnaround strategy.

The group’s turnover rose by 2.4% to R60.5 billion, while trading profit grew by 58.1% to R490 million.

Overall, Pick n Pay’s loss for the six-month period narrowed by 88.23% to R38 million.

These improvements were driven by a recovery in the core Pick n Pay supermarkets division, along with a strong contribution from Boxer.

The Pick n Pay Supermarkets segment – the target of the retailer’s turnaround plan – saw a marginal dip in turnover to R36.37 billion.

However, this division’s trading loss narrowed by 16.9% to R516 million. It posted a trading loss after lease interest of R1.08 billion.

This meant Boxer, which saw its turnover grow by 6.3% and its trading profit up 8.1% to R1.01 billion, effectively absorbed the losses of Pick n Pay’s core segment.

Another standout performer in Pick n Pay’s results was its Online segment, which grew by 35.4%.

Pick n Pay attributed the flat turnover growth in its core supermarkets division to the impact of its store estate reset plan.

This plan, which has been concluded, saw Pick n Pay close 19 stores over the past year, bringing this segment’s footprint down to 520 stores.

These results also revealed that, over the past year, Pick n Pay’s company-owned supermarkets and hypermarkets increased by 2 stores, to 313.

In contrast, its franchise supermarkets declined by 21, to 207. “Pick n Pay continues to optimise the store estate on an ongoing basis,” the retailer said. 

This optimisation has seen 14 franchise supermarkets converted into company-owned supermarkets during the past 12 months, 10 of which were converted in the first half of FY27.

Similarly, 2 Pick n Pay supermarkets were converted to Boxer Superstores in the first half of the 2027 financial year.

“We have put the fundamentals in place, and they are delivering, despite the constrained trading environment,” Pick n Pay CEO Sean Summers said. 

“We have delivered a strong like-for-like performance in our company-owned supermarkets, ahead of competitors, and with further benefits to come as we systematically work towards our FY29 break-even target.”