Pick n Pay fighting against ‘urban legends’

Pick n Pay is fighting against “urban legends”, with the company stuck in a negative news cycle it has to break out of to attract customers back to its stores. 

CEO Sean Summers described this as part of his plan to revive the struggling retailer through targeted store revivals and an expanded partnership with FNB’s eBucks rewards programme. 

FNB announced on 17 March that it would expand the eBucks offering at Pick n Pay to more clients just three months after its launch. 

Currently, 1.4 million FNB customers benefit from the partnership from the bank’s total eBucks client base of 6.4 million.

The bank said the partnership has exceeded expectations, with FNB seeing behavioural changes despite being available to only 20% of its customer base until 1 April 2025.

Summers explained that the partnership is part of Pick n Pay’s strategy to win back clients who have been purchasing their groceries elsewhere in recent years. 

“The reality is that there are customers who, for better or for worse, have taken us out of their consideration scale currently, and we have to work hard to get them back,” Summers said. 

He explained how difficult it is for the company to get back on this consideration scale when it has been closing stores. 

“When I hear all the ongoing stories and the complaints about Pick n Pay frontline service and all of these things. These are all issues we are dealing with as a company,” Summers said. 

“But, you know, so much of it also becomes an urban legend, and then the story keeps on repeating itself, and it keeps coming back.” 

Much of this urban legend stems from Pick n Pay closing some of its stores around South Africa that it has deemed non-performing. 

The retailer has closed over fifty stores over the past year as it looks to reset its store footprint and drive better customer experience in its existing stores. 

Summers also made it clear that the QualiSave brand no longer exists, with all of those stores being converted into Pick n Pay outlets. 

Pick n Pay fighting back

Summers said the company needs to push back against this urban legend and highlight the positive progress Pick n Pay is making in turning around its business. 

“People go out, and I keep hearing this story where people say, ‘Oh, I was in this Pick n Pay, and this happened to me’ when it turns out nothing ever happened.” 

“But, it is just fashionable to be in the mode where this stuff about Pick n Pay is repeated. So, a lot of this is urban legend and we need to keep on pushing back against it.” 

Summers admitted that Pick n Pay is largely to blame for not providing its customers with a better in-store experience, which is vital in South Africa’s highly competitive retail landscape. 

“That is all it is about at the end of the day because we are all basically selling the same prices.”

“Our value, at the end of the day, is what we deliver for you in the store. If you do not reward people for their time coming into the store and they do not leave the store feeling good, then they will not come back.”

The first step on this journey is to reinvigorate Pick n Pay staff to provide a better experience for customers and this will turn into natural improvement in the look and feel of stores. 

“It is all about revitalising the stores. We still have such great real estate around the country, and they need to be revitalised and renewed,” Summers said. 

“We have had the most phenomenal growth in the stores that we have targeted for revitalisation. We have taken them on a targeted basis. It is literally store by store.”

“It is not only about throwing monster capital into the store because, at the end of the day, we are in the human business, and that is what we have to get back into our minds at the company again.” 

“It is not about putting on a badge that says, ‘I love Pick n Pay’. It is about how you believe, how you come into work every day, and the attitude you show customers.”