Pick n Pay - Bethlehem

My final vocational day took me along to the local Pick n Pay in Bethlehem to meet with the manager Werner Kleinhans. I was given a tour of the whole operation covering all the selling support areas, which gave me the chance to ask lots of questions and also gave me a chance to let the team know that all the usual retailers gripes are universal and we all have more or less the same challenges around the supply chain, availability, merchandising, operations and customer service facing us each and every day!

South African supermarket retail traditionally sees the majority of fresh food being prepared or manufactured on site, with a full complement of butchers, fishmongers, bakers, confectioners and chefs on site in each and every supermarket. Something that is not as common in the big brand supermarkets in the UK where we buy in the majority of our products ready for sale, with the exception of products such as part baked bread and rotisserie chickens for example!

Pick n Pay are one of the big food retailers in South Africa who are moving towards a more cost effective and streamlined operation that will see them adopting practices similar to those of UK supermarkets. This is a big change for them to adopt and they are working hard to ensure that they are doing this in a not only a cost effective way, but a way that will limit the impact on local labour, by minimising the impact on the reduction and centralisation of the specialist roles mentioned above.

Ready meals and convenience food are a small but rapidly increasing sector of the food market in SA. What currently only represents about 15 lines on the shelves of the Bethlehem PnP (over 500+ lines in an average Waitrose back home) is an area that SA consumers are being introduced to slowly but surely.

It has been fantastic to spend such quality time with so many retail colleagues during my stay here in South Africa. It truly is an experience that money can't buy! I am sat here typing away, feeling extremely privileged, as the memories of the last 4 weeks run through my mind!

I have learnt many things about retail, most importantly I have been reminded of how there are just 2 key achievements for a retailer - availability and customer service! If one achieves just these 2 (with a lot of hard work and intermediate steps in between I must add) then a retailer will be a happy and contented and profitable retailer.

I have learnt new ways of doing things, different ways of doing things, more effective ways of doing things and most of all I have been reminded why I love working in retail!

My thanks go out to all the Rotarians in the UK for making this trip possible, all the Rotarians in SA for making my vocational days possible, and all the retailers who have given up their precious time at this busy time of the year to ensure that I got the most from my experiences.

Natasha