BUSINESS MAVERICK: Pick n Pay’s Richard Brasher is getting the job done

When Richard Brasher’s contract expires in 2021 as Pick n Pay’s CEO, it’s unlikely that the retailer’s controlling shareholder and founder, the Ackerman family, will let him go.

The 56-year-old stepped into a retailer that had initiated many failed turnaround plans dating back to Nelson Mandela’s presidency. Pick n Pay went through a sustained period of underinvestment in its stores, IT and supply chain systems — making it easy for its retail rivals to snatch its market share. And Pick n Pay’s core middle-to-high income customers were neglected, to its detriment.

The big question is whether Pick n Pay is starting to recover its market share from competitors including Shoprite, the market darling that could do no wrong for many years. Market watchers are divided. The retailer will spend another R2-billion in the financial year ahead, and part of the spend will go towards opening more than 100 stores . It will open a store in Nigeria in 2019 and two more in the future.

Asked if he will stay at Pick n Pay for the next 10 years to deliver this target, Brasher deflects, saying:When he was named as the CEO, I said on paper, he is the right man for the job because he went through all of the steps that needed to be taken to turn Pick n Pay around. He was instrumental in taking Tesco from being a number three retailer in the UK to one of the top retailers in the world.

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