by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | South Africa Company Stories, South Africa Retail & Consumer
⚡ TL;DRWalmart bought control of Massmart in 2011 expecting to bring global sourcing and supply chain capability to African retail, spent a decade struggling with the Game general merchandise chain, closed operations across several African countries, and...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | South Africa Company Stories, South Africa Retail & Consumer
⚡ TL;DRMr Price built South Africa’s most successful apparel retailer by doing the opposite of its competitors — selling for cash rather than credit, turning stock faster, keeping prices low and avoiding the bad debt cycles that repeatedly damaged...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | South Africa Company Stories, South Africa Retail & Consumer
⚡ TL;DRWoolworths built one of the world’s better private-label food retailers, serving affluent South Africans with quality and convenience at premium prices — and then spent a decade destroying value in clothing and in the acquisition of Australian...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | South Africa Company Stories, South Africa Retail & Consumer
⚡ TL;DRPick n Pay was South Africa’s retail pioneer under Raymond Ackerman, championing consumer sovereignty and challenging apartheid-era business norms, and then spent two decades losing ground to a competitor that invested in distribution while it did...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | South Africa Company Stories, South Africa Retail & Consumer
⚡ TL;DRShoprite grew from eight Cape Town supermarkets bought in 1979 into Africa’s largest food retailer by serving the customers other chains avoided — building the lowest cost structure in the market, owning its own distribution, and expanding...
