March 2016 – Issue 37

OK Foods Intermeat

 

Mafikeng, capital of the North West Province recently seen the opening of OK Foods Intermeat and Liquor store, a major new retail player in town. This OK Foods store is in terms of number of POS points (21), one of the biggest stores nationally – the POS points are made up by Retail POS, Bulk POS, Express POS, Kiosk POS and Liquor POS.

 

The check-out machine of choice is our TowerPOS all-in-one touch screen. The Butchery is the signature department of the store, but it also offers the clients a Bakery, Deli, Fresh Produce and Grocery sections. The store has an extensive product range, where 1,500 additional products had to be added to the normal OK database.

 

The Arch and OKFD teams worked closely together to ensure a smooth opening. A “feeding frenzy” was experienced on opening day and since then the store has shown a strong trading performance. We wish Christo Loots and his team all the best with the store and are proud to be associated with a legend store in the making…

Arch Presence in the DRC

 

Spinnaker has embarked on a strategic expansion strategy into Africa, where all market reports indicate a healthy growth in the more formal retail sector. The success of such a venture is pretty much reliant on partnering with selected local business partners to ensure that solid first line support is rendered in the respective countries. Spinnaker has already formed formal partnerships in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Nigeria, with the latest agreement concluded with AES Africa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

 

AES is a Kinshasa based company with a long business tradition in the DRC, but also with business interests in Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya. They bring a local presence and solid first line support to table for Arch stores, but will also be developing the market for Arch in the DRC. The three Directors of AES are Alex van Hoeken, and the brothers Sajjid and Imran Patel, who recently spent time at Spinnaker Head Office in Cape Town for intensive Arch product training. AES has already seen a breakthrough with the signing of the first group in the DRC, namely Kinmart. The first Kinmart store has gone live in Kinshasa recently. AES has already identified a number of target groups, and in conjunction with our Business Analysts, retail management proposals will be presented.

 

David Geldenhuys, Marketing Executive Officer (Arch Retail Systems) said: “It is encouraging to see there’s traction for our Arch suite of products beyond Southern African borders, which re-enforces our strategy to develop products from Africa, for Africa. We welcome the AES team to the Arch family and wish them all success conquering the DRC with Arch”.

OK Count On Loyalty Launched

 

Customer loyalty products have increased in prominence and popularity. They are a means to attract and maintain valued customers in a very competitive retail environment while providing the retailer with valuable customer information upon which direct marketing campaigns can be devised. This demand in the market has dictated the development of an integrated loyalty solution at Arch POS, in conjunction with Infinity, our strategic partner.

 

We recently launched the OK Count On Loyalty card at OK Foods, the franchise Division of Shoprite Checkers.  The solution not only plays an important role in attracting and rewarding loyal shoppers, but it also allows OK Foods to automate their customer competitions, for example their popular “Win-a-Bakkie” national competition – in the past customers’ only means of entry was through depositing a till slip into the competition box, now their entry is automated at POS point through the Count On card.

 

The solution also features a unique token system, which allows non-loyalty customers to enter the competition via SMS or USSD. An added advantage is that the store now has the contact details and buying information of both loyalty, and non-loyalty consumers on a single platform, indicating the product(s) they bought to qualify their entry into the competition (valuable information to involve suppliers).

 

The success of the card in driving the competition is evident in the entry stats through cards (4 times more successful in attracting entrants), while the token system has helped to grow their customer/entrant data base significantly, way beyond their returns from previous manual competitions. The above indicates that our integrated solution, has powerful applications, beyond traditional loyalty, where it allows retailers to run more of these type of campaigns more frequently, and at significantly reduced administration and overhead costs.

OK Express, New Family Member

 

In 2014 OK Foods entered into an agreement with Brent Oil, whereby the convenience stores at their service stations will be revamped and branded OK Minimark. A number of these have been converted along the way. Recently Puma Oil acquired Brent Oil and the association with OK Foods is continuing.

 

A new OK Foods brand, namely OK Express was born in the process and the convenience stores will be branded as such. As strategic partner of OK Foods, Arch is proud to be part of this project. A decision was taken to standardize these stores on our TowerPOS check-out machine – a fan-less, touch-screen option with integrated scanner, slip printer and customer display. The checkout also has a personal touch to it – a signing plate custom-branded with the OK Express logo.

 

The stores personify convenience, catering for the customers through a carefully selected product range. The shopping experience is further enhanced by a touch of class from the striking interior design. See attached photos of the most recent opening of the Buitengracht store in Cape Town CBD.

President Hyper Competition Hype

 

Vaal President Hyper & Liquor in Vanderbijlpark was featured in an earlier newsletter. This macro retail store is to date the largest single Arch implementation ever undertaken – 10,000m² trading space with a total of 72 POS points. The store has been trading since late November last year and has in a relatively short period of time, become thé leading retail store in the Vaal Triangle, supported by a loyal client base. Store management made a decision to increase the store’s profile as a one-stop shop, with the cheapest prices in South Africa, by launching the “Win-a-Million” competition.

 

The competition rules are very simple, for every R250 spent in the store, you have one entry into the competition. Needless to say, word has spread like wild fire and customers from far afield have come to support the store in hope of becoming the President Hyper millionaire! Arch has set up 9 entry terminals away from the check-out area, where customers present their till slips, it is scanned, the Arch system identifies it as a valid slip and then print the correct number of entries (one/R250), to be deposited into the entry box. This automation has assisted the store greatly in handling the vast number of entries. Good luck to all the Pres Hyper customers!