Pick n Pay was a topic of conversation around South African braais for all the wrong reasons; now it\u2019s betting on the national rugby team, the Springboks, to help change the conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Few things are more quintessentially South African than rugby and a braai, which is the country\u2019s version of a cookout where friends and family gather around a fire to prepare meat and often debate the sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Chief Executive Officer Sean Summers returned to lead the struggling grocer three years ago, Pick n Pay\u2019s survival had become part of that weekend conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAround every braai on a weekend, the whole debate was: \u2018Is Pick n Pay going to make it? Is Pick n Pay going to survive?\u2019\u201d Summers told reporters on Monday (26 October).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pick n Pay\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The national team has long been one of the country\u2019s most prominent sporting brands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sponsorship goes beyond the Springboks. Pick n Pay also backs school and women\u2019s rugby, while its Springbok collectables promotion\u2014which gives shoppers collectable cards featuring current and former rugby players\u2014is pulling customers into outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nuts what\u2019s going on in the stores,\u201d Summers said of the promotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s a more conventional commercial payoff, too. Pick n Pay has exclusive rights to sell more affordable Springbok merchandise, with Summers describing sales volumes as \u201cabsolutely phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rugby push comes as Pick n Pay tries to recover from years of losing ground to rivals, including Shoprite. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Same-store sales at its company-owned South African supermarkets rose 2.4% in the first half, though the core business remains loss-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sponsorship was a bold bet for a company that was bleeding cash when the deal was struck. Summers described it as a \u201cleap of faith\u201d that \u201chas turned out to be a prudent one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s also carrying Pick n Pay\u2019s name considerably further than the local braai. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Summers said friends in Vancouver, Sydney, Auckland and Hong Kong send him pictures when they spot the retailer\u2019s branding during Springbok matches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need unity in South Africa,\u201d Summers said. \u201cAnd the Springboks provide that.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pick n Pay says its leap-of-faith bet on the Springboks is starting to pay off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":872010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2114691775075852408","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2249767295843669","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18093832670181449","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[4067,26939,10419],"class_list":["post-881454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-pick-n-pay","tag-sean-summer","tag-springboks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881454"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":881460,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881454\/revisions\/881460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}