Shoprite, Africa’s largest retailer, revealed today that it is in advanced negotiations to acquire the remaining stake in Pingo Delivery, a last-mile logistics provider.
“In terms of the way forward, we have embarked on two structural changes to the business, both occurring subsequent to our June year-end close,” stated Pieter Engelbrecht, CEO of Shoprite.
“Firstly, we have signed an agreement to dispose of the furniture business including the OK Furniture and House & Home brands, excluding Angola and Mozambique operations to Pepkor Holdings Ltd (“Pepkor”).
“Secondly, with regards to our vision to be Africa’s most profitable omnichannel retailer, the Group is in advanced discussions to purchase the remaining 50% shareholding in our last-mile logistics provider, Pingo Delivery (Pty) Ltd, and will update in due course.”
Pingo was established in May 2022 as a joint venture between Shoprite Group and RTT Group, with both parties owning 50%. This partnership emerged following the rapid growth of Shoprite’s innovative on-demand grocery solution, Checkers Sixty60.
Checkers Sixty60 is a grocery app that allows customers to place orders and have them fulfilled and delivered within 60 minutes. The RTT last-mile enablement solution was integrated with Sixty60 as part of a broader ecosystem of solutions. To further enhance and expand this ecosystem, Pingo was launched as a standalone company offering a comprehensive range of on-demand delivery solutions.
Pingo has since expanded its services beyond supporting Sixty60 and now collaborates with various businesses in need of on-demand delivery services.
“With respect to our furniture business, we found ourselves at a crossroad with the business’s future growth and profitability hamstrung by the requirement of a level of investment that would have resulted in us re-directing capital and project management resources away from that currently dedicated to our food retail operations,” Engelbrecht explained.
“We believe the best outcome for OK Furniture and House & Home is for the business to operate in an environment where its required infrastructure and credit management expertise exists, thus allowing us to focus our resources on what we do best.”
