Woolworths commits to lowering prices for customers with R1 billion investment

One of South Africa's largest retailers, Woolworths has announced that in efforts to bring South African consumers lower prices, the company will be investing R1 billion in its prices over the next two to three years so that its products are ‘accessible to more customers’.

This will include an R750 million investment into the pricing for its foods business, and R250 million in its fashion business.

“Over the last few years, we have been on a journey to invest in the prices of key product lines and categories to ensure we continue to provide our customers with the value they have come to expect from us,” said Woolworths SA chief executive Zyda Rylands.

“Because we know our customers are under pressure, we are investing even more in our prices to ensure we remain relevant and accessible, while not compromising on our quality.”

Rylands said that the first phase will focus on a R250 million price investment planned in the foods business and R250 million in the fashion business for this financial year. The investment is being focussed on the most popular Woolworths products.

In foods, this includes the entire fresh chicken range such as all whole and portion chicken packs, excluding Easy to Cook, crumbed and marinated chicken.

“While this investment will initially be most visible in our poultry products, we have also applied for more promotions on everyday basics across groceries, household and personal care to be more affordable to more customers,” said Rylands.

In fashion, the investment will be in selected key wardrobe essentials, she said.

“Through the crisis, we have focussed on identifying further efficiencies in our business as well as in our value chain, to find opportunities to be more effective and cut costs.

“We have worked very closely with our suppliers and partners to ensure that we realise these sustainable and mutually beneficial operational improvements. We are pleased to be able to pass most of the savings of these efficiencies onto our customers,” said Rylands.

Written by: Staff Writer.

Guzzle Media