GLM TEAM
Pick n Pay Clothing has opened its 300th company-owned standalone store as it continues to solidify its aim to be the most accessible clothing brand to customers through both location and price.
The growing clothing retailer of casualwear-focused, value-orientated clothing, Pick n Pay Clothing is on track to open 60 corporate and 5 franchise stores by the end of February 2023 – this is more company-owned Clothing store openings than the past three years combined (59). The clothing division plans to open around 60 to 80 stores during its next financial year. The new stores are being designed on a four-star sustainable rating to meet the division’s aspiration to target a wide customer base in a more sustainable way.
Pick n Pay’s clothing business has reported impressive growth, based on transforming from largely a womenswear fashion business to a more diversified range, including baby, children and menswear.
“Our refined value proposition appeals to an array of customers in South Africa, and the new diversified range is already seeing us grow market share across all divisions. Our consistent, everyday proposition has become relatable to all customer segments – and with more stores, we are becoming even more accessible,” says Hazel Pillay, General Manager: Pick n Pay Clothing, who heads up the expanding division that is a growth engine for Pick n Pay’s Ekuseni strategy.
Pick n Pay Clothing continued its strong performance in H1 FY23, with 14.8% sales growth, driven by both solid like-for-like sales and new stores.
“Our greater focus on trendy products through collaborations with top local designers has contributed to the aspiration and fashionability of our ladieswear,” says Pillay. “Overall, customers are now experiencing better ranging and more relevant on-trend products, at everyday prices, which has increased our brand’s sentiment in the market.”
She says the Futurewear collaboration initiative – which sees the retailer partner with renowned designer Gavin Rajah to develop local designers to curate exclusive collections at affordable prices – will be a big push going forward as it focuses on its strategy to grow local.
The retailer currently sources over 40% of its range locally and remains focused on growing this. “We rely heavily on our local manufacturing base to create consistency. This has helped us largely mitigate the impact from global supply challenges the industry has experienced the past three years. We’ve grown local content from 28% three years ago to 40% now, and we’re not stopping there.”
Further improving Pick n Pay Clothing’s accessibility is its online store. “This has cemented our business as an omnichannel offering to our customers. Our online store and in-store experiences leverage each other to improve the customer experience.”
Selected Pick n Pay supermarkets and hypermarkets also feature certain ranges and Pillay says these are “specially selected to appeal to a more ‘grab and go’ shopping behaviour”. “Through our standalone stores, we’ve established familiarity with our offering – where customers spend more time browsing and trying on clothes – which means customers increasingly shop our ranges without the need to try on first,” she adds.
“We are really impressed with the growth of our online participation, which has seen exponential year-on-year sales growth since it launched two years ago. New ranges are particularly popular and are shopped almost immediately. Encouragingly, we are also seeing an increase in orders from outside the main city hubs. The online store’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals were, in particular, very successful this year,” says Pillay.
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