JSE-listed retailer Pepkor announced recently that Pep sold eight million cellular handsets during the year, 50% of which were smartphones.
The retailer said the growth in consumer demand for smartphones exceeded product availability in certain smartphone product lines.
With the aim of making smartphones affordable for customers, a cellular handset rental product was developed and is being tested in 180 stores. “To date, 120 000 cellular rentals have been provided through both the group’s internally developed capability and third parties,” said Pepkor.
The company added that Pep achieved very pleasing results with strong like-for-like sales growth of 9% in H2FY23 (on a 52-week basis).
Market share was expanded in the Babies, Adult and Home product categories.
It added that best price leadership was maintained with a healthy price gap to competitors.
The Pep Home stand-alone format, with 393 stores, achieved strong sales growth of 21.9%.
Pep’s credit sales mix increased to 4% (1% in the prior year) based on consumer demand for credit and enabled by the group’s credit interoperability strategy.
Pep opened 96 new stores during the year, mostly driven by the Pep Home format, and expanded its retail base to 2 602 stores.
The PAXI parcel distribution service, which leverages the retail footprint of Pep and other Pepkor brands in more than 2 800 locations, increased volumes by 18% to 4.9 million during the year.
Pep’s new 150 000 m2 distribution centre in Hammarsdale was successfully commissioned during the year.
“The distribution centre is self-sufficient and has been EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies)-certified”
