During
the company’s annual statement, Spar’s CEO, Graham O’Connor,
announced that the company has plans to renovate up to 180 of its
existing stores and have as many as 45 of its subsidiaries focused on
selling alcoholic beverages, Tops, open in Spar stores.
The
unrelenting force
In
a report released by Business Day South Africa, it confirmed that
during the year 2014, Spar had opened 19 new stores, as many as 51
new Tops at its existing Spar outlets and 18 Build It stores. As SPAR
is also owns the popular Pack ‘n’ Shop, it aims to continue its
expansion plans in 2015.
Due
to many factors such as fierce competition from local and overseas
brands as well as Africa’s uncertain labour force and limitations
in the financial side has made it difficult for SPAR to maintain its
business operations. Due to these setbacks, it was not able to reach
its target of opening 23 new stores.
Despite
these challenges, O’Connor emphasized that “looking
forward, the primary focus is retailer profitability, underpinning
the long-term economic sustainability of the Spar Group’s
business”.
Opportunities
are plenty
SPAR
had just recently acquired the majority stake in Irish retail group,
BWG, and has gained an abundance of opportunities in the UK market
due to the BWG’s many marketing channels and distribution points.
O’Connor
proves that he is never one to back down from a challenge as he
mentions that “as
competition in the retail sector intensifies, we continue to focus on
aggressively driving new business opportunities, organic growth,
stringent cost control and securing operating and supply chain
efficiencies,” a statement he gave right after the purchase of the
company was finalized.
SPAR
already has many achievements under its belt with the successful
launches of its brand in Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria along
with other key areas like Namibia, Botswana and Swaziland. Naturally
this looks promising for SPAR’s continued growth in the country.
However
SPAR has constantly found it difficult to maintain its business in
Zimbabwe and has described it as “challenging”.
