The Shoprite Group \u2013 Africa’s largest food retailer \u2013 plans to launch its own mobile virtual network operator (MVNO).<\/p>\n
Pieter Engelbrecht, the chief executive officer of Shoprite Holdings said during a results presentation on Tuesday (16 March) that the group would aim to leverage the ‘petabytes of customer data’.<\/p>\n
Shoprite told BusinessTech that it will provide further details on the launch early next week.<\/p>\n
The retail group launched K\u2019nect in 2019, a stand-alone store format which sells mobile products and related services and offers entry-level financial services and products to consumers across all income sectors.<\/p>\n
The first store was opened in Delft Mall, Cape Town, on 27 May 2019, representing the group\u2019s entry into the tech-sphere, while 10 additional stores followed. However, the group closed four stores over 2020. Four new stores are planned before June 2021.<\/p>\n
K\u2019nect stores aim to meet customers\u2019 needs when it comes to airtime bundles, a data top-up or even a brand-new electronic device such as a cellphone, remote or flash drive.<\/p>\n
Taking on Pick n Pay<\/strong><\/p>\n Shoprite’s plans around mobile come after competitor Pick n Pay launched its PnP Mobile MVNO, operating on MTN\u2019s network, in November 2020.<\/p>\n PnP Mobile is the first MVNO to use MTN\u2019s newly-launched MVNO service, and it will give customers access to prepaid SIM-based services such as airtime, data, and SMS.<\/p>\n PnP Mobile allows Smart Shopper customers to earn tiered rewards that offer users between 250MB and 2.5GB depending on their tier.<\/p>\n The retailer provided an example where if a customer tops up their PnP Mobile SIM card with R100, and spends R1,000 on groceries, they will earn an additional 500MB in data rewards.<\/p>\n These data rewards are automatically loaded onto the user\u2019s SIM card once after each shop, and do not replace traditional Smart Shopper points.<\/p>\n South Africa has several other significant MVNOs, the majority of which run on Cell C\u2019s network. These include FNB Connect, Standard Bank Mobile, Mr P Mobile, and me&you Mobile.<\/p>\n
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