Chief executive of Pick ‘n Pay Nick Badminton told analysts in Cape Town on Tuesday that although food was often the last to be affected by inflation, “we feel that it will be a little tight in the next six months”.
He said that inflation within the group was showing a 7% increase for the full year, but warned that the month of August showed inflation at 9,5%, and that “September will be a little bit higher”.
Badminton, who took over as CEO from Sean Summers in March, said there had been improved turnover at the stores, especially those serving the four to seven LSM (living standards measure) communities.
“Unfortunately, inflation is higher in lower income stores,” he said.
However, the company had experienced strong growth in the lower LSM areas.
“The store in Soshanguve has just gone over R10-million a month,” he said.
He said the group expected to convert Score stores, which mainly service the lower income end of the market, into Pick ‘n Pay outlets.
At the same time there would be a further attempt to capture the higher end of the market.
He said the development of a new distribution centre at Longmeadow in Durban would help Pick ‘n Pay ensure the kind of freshness that eight to 10 LSM customers demand, while assisting the company to ride the inflation wave, by buying goods ahead of time that are expected to increase in price. ‒ I-Net Bridge