Pick n Pay has South Africans talking for the right reasons

Pick n Pay was a topic of conversation around South African barbecue grills for all the wrong reasons. Now, it’s betting on the national rugby team known as the Springboks to help change the conversation.

Few things are more quintessentially South African than rugby and a braai, which is the country’s version of a cookout where friends and family gather around a fire to prepare meat and often debate the sport.

When Chief Executive Officer Sean Summers returned to lead the struggling grocer three years ago, Pick n Pay’s survival had become part of that weekend conversation.

“Around every braai on a weekend, the whole debate was: ‘Is Pick n Pay going to make it? Is Pick n Pay going to survive?’” Summers told reporters Monday.

Pick n Pay’s decision to sign a six-year sponsorship deal with South African Rugby and the world-champion Springboks last year has helped shift that narrative, according to Summers.

The national team has long been one of the country’s most prominent sporting brands.

The sponsorship goes beyond the Springboks. Pick n Pay also backs school and women’s rugby, while its Springbok Collectaboks promotion is pulling customers into outlets.

“It’s nuts what’s going on in the stores,” Summers said of the promotion.

There’s a more conventional commercial payoff, too.

Pick n Pay has exclusive rights to sell more affordable Springbok merchandise, with Summers describing sales volumes as “absolutely phenomenal.”

The rugby push comes as Pick n Pay tries to recover from years of losing ground to rivals including Shoprite.

Same-store sales at its company-owned South African supermarkets rose 2.4% in the first half, though the core business remains loss-making.

The sponsorship was a bold bet for a company that was bleeding cash when the deal was struck. Summers described it as a “leap of faith” that “has turned out to be a prudent one.”

It’s also carrying Pick n Pay’s name considerably further than the local braai. Summers said friends in Vancouver, Sydney, Auckland and Hong Kong send him pictures when they spot the retailer’s branding during Springbok matches.

“We need unity in South Africa,” Summers said. “And the Springboks” provide that.