The new CEO of Pick n Pay Sean Summers is holding nothing back and wants to get the retailer back on top, taking that spot away from Checkers. Picture: Supplied/ Pick n Pay
The new CEO of Pick n Pay Sean Summers is holding nothing back and wants to get the retailer back on top, taking that spot away from Checkers.
Summers said that Checkers became the leading food retailer in South Africa by essentially copying Pick n Pay’s roadmap.
Summers says Whitey Basson, the managing director and Chief Executive of Shoprite Holdings Ltd and Pieter Engelbrecht, the current CEO of Shoprite used Pick n Pay’s playbook to get Checkers to the number one spot.
Speaking to Alec Hogg on a podcast for BizNewsTv, Summers addressed the major elephant in the room, the Pick n Pay share price.
Pick n Pay’s share price dropped by nearly 15% after reporting an interim loss this week.
At the close of the market yesterday, Pick n Pay's share price was trading at R25.00.
The shares have dropped by 55.3% in the last year.
Summer actually notes that the results were so bad that founder Raymond Ackerman was spared by not having to see the dismal results.
Ackerman passed away on September 6, 2023, aged 92.
Summers did note that Ackerman was aware of the situation at Pick n Pay and the decline the company was experiencing.
The CEO said he left Pick n Pay 15 years ago and moved on to other ventures, but always kept an eye on the brand he helped build. He noted that he could see that the company was not keeping up with the growth path he helped create and was “sliding backwards”.
Summers told Hogg that Checkers essentially used the growth path that he had implemented with Ackerman in the 1990s.
Summers does say that Checkers has done a great job and he commends them on the work they have done. “They have done an excellent job. Ten out of ten to them,” he said.
“They have taken our playbook and thrown it back at us.
“Pick n Pay has aided and abetted their success by staying quiet on the sideline,” he explained.
The 70-year-old is resilient and hopeful. He wants to get Pick n Pay to care more about retail. He notes that the leadership at the store may have not been focused on Pick n Pay’s core retail business.
His time away from Pick n Pay, in the UK and at Steinhoff will play a major role in how he addresses the issues in growing the retailer and getting it back on track.
“People make the business at the end of the day,” he said, and he needs to focus on that.
Pick n Pay has had a number of retrenchments and Summers knows how this impacts or destroys the fabric and momentum of an organisation. He notes that it leaves your employees disillusioned and insecure.
He will address that challenge at Pick n Pay in his duty as CEO. He underscores the point that the people at Pick n Pay are his priority.
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