When Sean Summers returned to Pick n Pay as CEO in 2023, he was offered 4 million performance-based shares as an incentive to turn the business around more quickly. Two million of these he bagged in October last year for successfully implementing the new organisational and leadership structure. Then, another million shares have been earmarked for delivering a successful CEO succession plan, which, we would imagine, is still some way off considering that his contract has been extended to 2028. The final million shares were to be awarded if Pick n Pay reached break-even by FY2027. Unfortunately, the Group tells us, this will not materialise, meaning that Summers will have to forfeit those shares, valued at R21m. The break-even target has also been pushed back to FY2029 – and while no shares are on the line for him this time, the stakes would be much higher for the business should that deadline not be met. 

Dealing in much smaller numbers, Boxer, in partnership with FNB eBucks, is offering qualifying FNB customers who swipe their cards in-store a loaf of bread at the mere cost of 99c. A similar initiative was launched at Pick n Pay stores in 2024, resulting in over 6.3 million loaves issued, saving shoppers R9.6m. Shoppers will be allowed to buy up to four loaves at 99c per month, and by extending the offer to Boxer stores, the deal will reach those rural and semi-rural communities that need it most.

The short version: Summers forfeits R21m in shares | Boxer & FNB bring customers 99c bread loaves | New AI shopping assistant now on asap!

And finally, just yesterday, Pick n Pay introduced a brand-new innovation known as Penny, an AI-powered shopping companion built directly into the asap! app. Powered by Google Gemini, Penny is designed to make the grocery ordering process that much faster, allowing shoppers to build their baskets using voice, text, or images. Instead of navigating categories and product lists, shoppers can just tell Penny what they need in one of several languages. They can even upload photos of handwritten shopping lists or a list of ingredients from a recipe, or take a pic of the ingredients they have in their fridge and ask for meal ideas. “On-demand delivery changed how people shop. AI is now changing how they order,” says Enrico Ferigolli, Retail Executive: Omnichannel at Pick n Pay. “For years, the focus has been on faster delivery. The next disruption is removing the effort from shopping itself.” Penny is available in the latest version of the Pick n Pay asap! app and will roll out from Monday, 6 July.

The short version: Takealot achieves its first full-year operating profit

Really good news from Takealot is that for the first time in its history, it has made an operating profit over its financial year. Revenue for the year to end March increased +18% to R16.42bn, with adjusted EBIT going from a R213.53m loss in 2025 to an R180.67m profit (reminder: adjusted EBIT removes the impact of interest and taxes still owed by the company). Its GMV or gross merchandise value (i.e. the value of the goods and services it sold over the year), also showed double-digit growth of +14% to R32.85bn. The Group has a favourable category mix, its TakealotMORE subscription service and +37% growth in retail media revenue to thank for these numbers. TakealotMORE specifically now accounts for 27% of Takealot.com’s total GMV and subscriber numbers have been growing rather nicely. Looking ahead to FY2027, the Group has said that it will focus on scaling its Takealot Fulfilment Solutions (i.e. the business unit providing logistics services to third parties) as a standalone revenue stream.

The short version: German discounter 3D prints a supermarket | Asda wishes for better days | Lidl reserves interviews for the unemployed

Truly, we live in an age of wonders, where even supermarkets can be 3D-printed. Major German discount supermarket chain, Netto Marken-Discount, will soon be opening the world’s first supermarket constructed using 3D concrete printing. The concrete used will also be “CO₂-reduced” – in other words, the gasses produced during manufacturing of the cement are captured and permanently stored under the seabed. Using 292 cubic metres of printed concrete, and with walls up to seven metres high, this will be the largest 3D-printed building to date. Not everything in the building will be done by robots, however – it will also include conventional building components, such as columns and beams. 

Over in Blighty, the UK’s third-largest supermarket chain Asda is having a horrible time, announcing that it has let go of nearly 7,500 of its staff over the last year as the costs incurred to service its debt have reached record highs. This, coupled with Asda losing market share, has forced the retailer to embark on a major cost-cutting programme, but the company’s woes don’t end there. Over the course of 2025, a botched IT upgrade resulted in hundreds of staff who oversaw the upgrade being let go, and according to recent figures, it was the only major supermarket chain in the UK to see sales fall during the opening weeks of the FIFA Men’s World Cup. Blimey…

We close off with uplifting news from Lidl, which has said that it will ringfence 10% of its interview slots for entry-level roles at new stores for those who have been unemployed for at least six months. To identify suitable candidates, the retailer plans to work with local employability partners, as well as the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions. Minister for Employment Dame Diana Johnson said the programme was “vital”: “It’s moving people from welfare to work, providing those who have been out of work with a pathway back into employment.”