Business Strategy and Strategic Management of Pep Stores - Case Study Example

Company Strategy EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report has introduced the Pep Stores, a multinational retail store chain headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, dealing with men’s wear, women’s wear, children’s clothing, school uniforms, footwear, beauty and health products, homeware, airtime products, prepaid cellular products and services. The success of the company can be attributed to the business strategy that it uses. The company has always aimed at maintaining its leadership position in the highly competitive retail sector. It has continuously reexamined its business processes, challenging its current goods planning processes so as to incorporate useful strategic planning, sub-class planning and business unit planning so as to execute its overall company strategy. This report has highlighted the important stakeholders of the company, giving its financial status to show the company’s level of success. An external and internal analysis of the company’s environment shows that the company is always engaged in efforts to continue dominating the mass market retail environment for its diverse range of products such as cellular products, homeware, beauty and health products, textiles, footwear and a range of clothing among others. The company has heavily invested in strategic business solutions and services to help it address it challenges and shortcomings. This has been quite fruitful since it has realized a lot of benefits such as improved profitability, improved operating and processes efficiencies, proven business strength, high-level planning of assortments and a greater alignment of the company’s objectives to the supply chain management processes. This report has also outlined the challenges being faced by the Pep Stores while providing a comprehensive and detailed insight into the history of the company, its business structure, corporate strategy and operations. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 Introduction………………………………………………………………………........... 4 2.0 Description of the Company’s Business………………………………………………… 5 2.1 Major products and services…………………………………………………….. 6 3.0 Company Strategy……………………………………………………………………..... 6 3.1 The Company’s Success........................................................................................ 8 4.0 Important Stakeholders of the Company………………………………………………... 10 5.0 Financial Situation……………………………………………………………………..... 10 6.0 Analysis of the External Environment…………………………………………………... 10 7.0 Analysis of the Internal Environment…………………………………………………… 12 8.0 Challenges……………………………………………………………………………….. 13 9.0 Possible Changes AND Recommendations …………………………………………….. 13 10.0 Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………... 11.0 References………………………………………………………………………………. 12.0 Appendices……………………………………………………………………………… 1.0 INTRODUCTION A company’s business momentum is reflected in the growing number of its employees, its profitability and its range of products and services among other factors (Moore 1995). In order to achieve this, any business organization needs to have a corporate business strategy that will provide scope and direction for the organization over a long term period (Nag, Hambrick, Chen 2007). A company strategy helps companies to direct and configure their resources to meet their goals amidst the challenging and highly competitive business environment. According to Mulcaster (2009), a company must have a strategy so as to fulfill the expectations of the stakeholders and to meet the needs of its markets. The Pep Company is very diverse in nature in terms of the products and services that it deals with (Pep Fast Facts 2011). It has a wide range of products and services offered to the customers (Liebeskind 1996). Johnson, Scholes and Whittington (2008) note that at the Pep Stores, the business strategies are about where the business aims to be in the long term. This gives it a sense of direction because members of the organization know what they are working towards (Pep Fast Facts 2011). The strategies of the company also give it a scope for operating since they stipulate the markets that the business should operate in and the kind of activities that the company should do in such markets (Jarillo 1993). The company strategy will enable the company to establish how the business can perform better amidst the stiff competition. The company strategy of Pep Stores identifies the resources (facilities, technical competence, relationships, finance, assets and skills) that are required in order for the business to compete effectively (Pep Fast Facts 2011). It is important to understand the company strategy and align it to the environment of the company, both external and internal, so as to determine the best way to run it (Hamel & Prahalad 1994). This report focuses on both the internal and external environment so as to determine the environmental factors that affect the company’s ability to compete effectively. The report will also focus on the company’s strategies in determining the expectations and values of the people and stakeholders who have the power around and in the business. 2.0 DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPANY’S BUSINESS Pep is multinational company that has its headquarters in Parow East, Cape Town, South Africa. The company was founded in 17th August 1965 in Upington in the Northern Cape of South Africa. Pep operates in the retail sector, and the products of the company include men’s wear, women’s wear, children’s clothing, school uniforms, footwear, beauty and health products, homeware, airtime products, prepaid cellular products and services. Pep Stores are owned by Pepkor, an investments holding company based in South Africa. Currently, Pep has more than 1400 store spread across South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Namibia, Lesotho, Angola and Botswana. In South Africa alone, Pep Stores is ranked the largest same brand retailer that has operated for over 40 years (Pep Fast Facts 2011). The total number of employees as of 2010 stood at 23,000 employees. The number of products and services of the company show that is id diversified and therefore likely to be successful in all seasons. Pep Stores is an everyday low price store and retailer that caters for the needs of low income consumers within the markets that it operates in. Pep Stores ventured into offering affordable and cheap merchandise to all South Africans at the lowest and best possible price in 1965. It is worth noting that over 40 years later, the company has always been keeping its margin to the minimum and has a culture of maintaining low costs. The company is said to sell over 400 million products every year, to more than 220 million customers (Pep Fast Facts 2011). The store has opened a branch in almost every village and city in South Africa and its presence can be felt in all rural and remote areas. In all these areas, it offers and sells a variety of quality and fashionable merchandise to its customers. The company’s business focuses on creating diversity and having a wide range of products and services that the customers can purchase. The company deals with many different products and services which have contributed to the success of its business ventures (Pep Fast Facts 2011). 2.1 MAJOR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES The major products of the company include men’s wear, women’s wear, children’s clothing, school uniforms, footwear, beauty and health products, homeware, airtime products and prepaid cellular products. Statistics show that over 55% of all the school wear sold in South Africa originates from Pep Stores. These products are usually of very high quality but still very affordable. Some of the company’s services include a range of money services such as mobile money transfers like the e-wallet payments to cash-backs and third parties, funeral policies, insurance services and capfin service for loans among many others. The company has diversified its products and services and trades in a wide variety of both products and services at low costs. 3.0 COMPANY STRATEGY The company’s main strategy is the ‘low cost’ strategy. This strategy calls for the company to provide quality, fashionable and stylish merchandise to consumers at very low and affordable prices while still making profits (Buzzell & Gale 1987). This central strategy is rooted in target market that has low income earners with the collective power to purchase the company’s power because they are very basic and important to them. With such a strategy, the profit margins of the company are very low. However, the high demand and subsequent high purchases of the company’s products increase the sales and bridge the profit gap. Even though the company is involved in a lot of other ventures such as extensive advertising, it cannot pass on these costs to the consumers as other companies would have done (Pep Fast Facts 2011). Pep Stores in investing heavily in advertising and creating a brand name for its range of products (De Wit & Meyer 2010). According to Nag, Hambrick and Chen (2007), the company has also been investing in widening its store’s fit outs and increasing its range of products and services (Pep Fast Facts 2011). This strategy has forced the company to increase its sales so as to return the money that is being spent on all these marketing ventures. Even though the operating and advertising costs are ever increasing, the company has not been passing down these costs to its customers. This is because this would conflict with its low-cost strategy. It therefore aims at increasing sales so as to beat the rising prices and still remain profitable (Johnson, Scholes & Whittington 2008). The low cost strategy used by the Pep Stores has made it famous as one of few stores that effectively cater for the needs of the low or average income earners. According to the store’s founder, Reiner van Rooyen, poor people and low income earners had very little disposable income (Pep Fast Facts 2011). However, their collective purchasing power was truly immense. This gave him the recipe for running successful retail outlets in South Africa. His strategic idea is still used by the company up to date, more than 40 years after it was founded. His idea entailed providing quality clothing cheaply to the low income earners, but not providing cheap clothes (De Wit & Meyer 2010). At Pep Stores, margins are maintained at very low levels so that the most number of people are able to buy from the stores. Other key strategies that the company has been involved in include creating communication channels that are beneficial to the employees. The company’s management has been involved in improving the communication channels to enable the workers have a chance at decision making because they are armed with pertinent information regarding the company and its operations. The company focuses on motivating its staff so as to ensure that their performance is optimum. The management has realized the importance of motivating its workforce and invests heavily in motivating them so as to ensure that they are encouraged to work towards goal attainment (Pep Fast Facts 2011). 3.1 IS THE COMPANY SUCCESSFUL? Mulcaster (2009) notes that the Pep Company was first listed in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in 1972. Since then, Pep Stores has been delisted and relisted from the JSE on numerous occasions due to its performance. This indicates that it has been enjoying seasons of profitability and experiencing other seasons of financial losses and disappointments (Pep Fast Facts 2011). Currently, the company can be said to be successful because of its status in the market and the amount of revenue it generates in terms of profits. The company’s success can be measured in terms of the large number of employees that it has. As seen in the introduction, the company has employed over 15,000 workers across all its stores. The large number of employees who keep joining the company at a very high rate, and those who remain at the company for many years shows that the workers are satisfied with the company and want to remain part of it. According to Herzberg’s theory of motivation, the level of motivation and commitment of workers can be used to judge the success of a company (Liebeskind 1996). In 2005 alone, Pep Stores collectively sold more than 400 million units at an average cost of R 14 per unit. This saw it enjoy a turnover of R 5.9 billion. Its operating profit during the period was R 607 million. These figures show that the company is indeed successful despite the challenges of the retail environment (Pep Fast Facts 2011). A review of the company’s financial statements also shows that it is successful in its core business. The table below shows that in 2005, the company’s income increased by over 16%. It also shows that over the three year period of between 2004 and 2006, the company realized a net surplus of R 171,000 (Pep Fast Facts 2011). Even though the company’s trading expenditure over the same period was R 1,280,000, way above its budgeted R 800,000, the company was still able to make a surplus interest of R 794,000, way above the projected R 500,000. This shows that it has been able to remain profitable in the tough retail business environment (Johnson, Scholes & Whittington 2008). Description 2006 2005 2004 Total income R 2,946,289 R 2,544,102 R 3,342,611 Total expenditure Net (deficit)/surplus (322,193) (461,670) 955,152 Average monthly expenditure 272,374 250,480 198,955 Cash and bank balances 375,968 675,604 1,137,274 Monthly cover 1.4 months 2.7 months 5.7 months Staff complement 17 18 17 4.0 IMPORTANT STAKEHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY Pep Stores are owned by Pepkor, a multinational investment company. Pepkor limited owns the Pep Stores. The company also values its customers and workers more than any other stakeholders. Pepkor has many subsidiaries such as PEP, Ackermans, Best and Less, Dunns, Shoe City, Pepco and John Craig. All these subsidiaries have stakes in the overall Pepkor Holdings Ltd. The individual subsidiaries have their own unique stores in different regions all over the world (Pep Fast Facts 2011). 5.0 FINANCIAL SITUATION As of 2003, the Pepkor’s revenue stood at R 7 billion. When a private company, Brait, bought Pepkor in 2011, the company was estimated to be worth R 17 billion. 6.0 ANALYSIS OF THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT The general environment in which any business is set to grow depends on several external factors such as political factors, economic factors, socio-cultural factors and technological factors. In order to analyze the external business environment under which the Pep Company operates, it is pertinent to conduct a PEST analysis. 6.1 Political Factors All retail organizations in South Africa need to comply with legal statutes and consider the various legislations of the South African business environment such as the Business Act of 1991 and the Trade and Industry Act of 1998. South Africa is known to have one of the most complex political systems in the world. This presents a lot of risks because of the short term viability of the system. The high levels of unionism in the country also threaten the existence of the business because of the ever increasing threat of industrial action which can have adverse effects on the economy of the country. With the new president and administration, trade unions have been empowered and retail businesses such as Pepkor need to carefully monitor the political and legal environment before taking any further steps. 6.2 Economic Factors South Africa was greatly impacted by the global financial crisis that affected nearly all the regions in the world. According to a report by the Reserve Bank of Australia, the economy of the country fully recovered from the crunch in 2010 and is now very stable. In fact, in 2011, it grew by 2.8% and has continued to grow and recover since then. This has had positive impact on the retail market, and the clothing sector in particular, Pepkor included. Reports by the data-monitor show that the South African Apparel retail industry is set to be valued at $ 9 billion by 2014 because of these economic growths and recoveries. Large clothing retailers such as Pep Stores and Edcon have been reporting growth and rising number of sales. 6.3 Socio-cultural Factors The apartheid era in South Africa, which has existed for many years, has been affecting many businesses, customers and their purchasing powers, choices and characteristics. When the apartheid era came to an end, many South Africans have had the freedom to leave their rural homesteads and settle in towns and urban areas. These high levels of urbanization have led to the creation of Black middle class who have a significant and collective purchasing power that allows them to purchase products from the Pep Stores at very affordable prices. South Africa also has many cultures and religions that the clothing retailers such as Pep Stores have to take into consideration. The varied levels of income are also another key factor that determines the purchasing powers of the people. The 11 official languages used by the people of South Africa signify diversity in cultures and races. The clothing retail industry therefore has to take all these factors into consideration. 6.4 Technological Factors The development and availability of ICT has enabled many businesses to thrive by improving their marketing campaigns significantly. With the advent of the internet, companies such as the Pep Stores are able to create websites that act as platforms for connecting with their customers. Technology also allows for online purchasing which reduces stress for the customers. Clothes retailers are also engaging in the sale of mobile phones so as to diversify their range of products and services. Many retailers such as the Pep Stores are upgrading their management systems as a result of technology. Innovations such as supply chain management and retailing systems have brought significant changes to the South African clothes retail sector. This has seen the invention of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) which has been offering solutions to supply chain management and stock control. 7.0 ANALYSIS OF THE INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT According to the company’s vision and mission, the store stands for giving the customers exactly what they want. That is the main focus of the company as stipulated in it vision, mission and values. The company’s vision is “delighted customer: our focus and pleasure”. Its mission is “to strive to be the friendliest and most exciting retailer offering up to date and durable products at the best prices”. The company’s values are honesty, passion and resourcefulness. The workers comprising the management team are constantly trained to correspond and adapt to the ever changing needs of the consumers. The ongoing training is meant to give the team the ability to recreate the desired uniqueness and map the environment for the consumers. The managing director of Pep Stores, Labuschaigne, sort to get rid of the hierarchy levels within the organization to create a beneficial and equal working environment for all the employees. 8.0 CHALLENGES The main challenge being faced by the business is its quest to uphold and maintain its current leading position in the highly competitive retail sector (Hamel & Prahalad 1994). The company has been in operation for over 40 years and is renowned for its quality, fashionable and stylish but affordable merchandise. It has not been easy to maintain this status because there are other companies that have come up to offer the same products to members of the public. These include Woolworths, Deacons, Edcon, Mr.Price and Foschini Ltd (Pep Fast Facts 2011). Most of these retailers have had a very long history of success within the South African retail sector and cannot be ignored. They have been posing challenges to the Pep Company for many years now. The political environment also poses a lot of challenges because workers have become empowered to air their grievance and cause mass movements or reactions. The diverse socio-cultural economic environment in South Africa also brings a lot of challenges to the business. 9.0 POSSIBLE CHANGES AND RECOMMENDATIONS The company should consider widening the scope of the target audience. The company should focus on all potential consumers and have a variety of products for each of them. The company should also focus on meeting the unique needs of the diverse cultures so as to satisfy the needs of all it customers. Technology can be used to increase the company’s web presence so as to give the customers a chance to interact with it online. The web can be used for cheap advertising since it reaches more audiences at a fairly low cost compared to other means of advertising. Pep Stores should also look for a new strategy to deal with competitive rivalry. This can be done by improving the value of their products while still maintaining the low prices so as to attract more customers. The company should also continue to focus more on giving back to the community through it educational programs and partnerships. 10.0 CONCLUSIONS It can be concluded that the Pep Stores are some of the most successful clothing retail stores across South Africa and in the other regions that they operate. Their success is linked to the overall company strategy of low costs to low income earners. This report has analyzed the political, economic, socio-cultural and technological factors that affect the Pep Stores and given possible solutions and recommendations to the problems faced by the company. A company’s strategy is important because it sets the direction on whether the company will succeed or not. 11.0 REFERENCES Buzzell, R & Gale, B 1987, The PIMS principles: linking strategy to performance, Free Press, New York. De Wit, B & Meyer, R 2010, Strategy: process, content, context, 4th edn, Cengage Learning EMEA, Andover. Derek, A 1978, ‘Strategic windows’, Journal of Marketing, vol. 42, pp. 21-28. Hamel, G & Prahalad, CK 1994, Competing for the Future, Harvard Business School Press, Boston. Jarillo, J 1993, Carlos strategic networks: creating borderless organizations, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Johnson, G, Scholes, K & Whittington, R 2008, Exploring Corporate Strategy, 8th edn, Prentice Hall, Essex. Liebeskind, JP 1996, ‘Knowledge, strategy, and the theory of the firm’, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 17. Moore, MH 1995, Creating public value: strategic management in government, Harvard University Press, Cambridge. Mulcaster, WR 2009, ‘Three strategic frameworks’, Business Strategy Series, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 68-75. Nag, R, Hambrick, DC, Chen, MJ 2007, ‘What is strategic management, really? Inductive derivation of a consensus definition of the field’, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 28, no. 9, pp. 935-955. Pep Fast Facts 2011, Case study: what’s in store?, retrieved from http://www.jda.com/file_bin/casestudies/PEP_casestudy_041610.pdf 12.0 APPENDICES Appendix 1   Pep  recharged  by Ron Irwin  November 25, 2002  Quick: Think of a brand name that would appeal throughout sub-Saharan Africa and across 20 different languages. The brand would have to survive political revolution, at least three different civil wars, the dot-com age, the rise of a new population in South Africa, and an increase in foreign competition and young upstarts catering to a more upwardly mobile, fashionable – and freer – black culture.     Pep, Southern Africa's best known chain of retail stores, offers a variety of durable and up-to-date family clothing, footwear, textiles, household goods and cellular products to Africans from all walks of life with a particular focus on the very poor. There are over a thousand Pep stores throughout South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Ghana. The company employs 9000 people, and had a turnover of R2.2 billion (US$ 208M) and an operating profit of R118 million (US$ 11.18M) in the fiscal year ending June 2000. The brand began in the early 1950s as the brainchild of Renier van Rooyen, who started a small discount store to service the very poor in his remote hometown of Upington in the Northern Cape of South Africa. The store was one of the first white-run establishments to cater to the black community by providing quality, durable clothing at deeply discounted prices. It allowed black customers to see, touch and hold merchandise before buying – a break from the tradition that displayed all stock behind a counter. van Rooyen also created dressing rooms that would be used by both black and white patrons, refusing to participate in the apartheid conventions of the day (which would have separated not only the dressing rooms, but also the points of sale). van Rooyen soon began to open other stores in small towns throughout the country, trading as BG Bazaars. It became clear by the early 1960s that van Rooyen would have to change the name of his stores to avoid conflict with a similar sounding store chain called OK Bazaars in South Africa. After turning down a list of possible names, he settled on a suggestion made by a traveling shoe salesman through Upington: van Rooyen's retail chain should be called "Pep." The name struck a chord for a number of reasons. To begin with, it characterized van Rooyen himself, a hard worker who always demanded tasks be done "with pep." According to company literature van Rooyen liked the name because: "It has punch, and is easy to remember, pronounce and read in all South African languages. It means vigor, zest and energy, qualities that to this day characterize its staff." Pep expanded quickly throughout South Africa. Its combination of no frills, solid value goods combined with savvy branding kept Pep almost synonymous with poor but proud marketing. By the time of South Africa's first democratic election in 1994, Pep had dominated the cheap retail sector for three decades. It was now perfectly poised to cash in on the newfound retail power of the heretofore disenfranchised black community, which had begun to be the focus of modern South African marketing. In the New South Africa, black buying power rules the day. But Pep had become complacent in its middle age and was unprepared for the sweeping changes that would grip the country once every South African had the vote. The elections of 1994 came right before the dot-com revolution, a communication breakthrough that brought the world to South African TV and computer screens… and showed an impoverished, poor population what they had been missing. To the average black South African, having the vote meant finally attaining a measure of personal pride, and the opportunity to have real aspirations for success. Nelson Mandela was President, South Africa was the toast of the world, and a repressive dictatorship had crumbled into dust without so much as a shot being fired in anger – anything seemed possible. Pep's target audience no longer wanted to buy on the cheap and cheerful. They aspired to own that which was previously reserved for whites only: branded clothing, Nikes, stereos and computers. They wanted credit cards, home loans, online banking facilities and the opportunity to walk into any restaurant without being turned away. Overnight, change seemed possible. Pep, with its simple, no-nonsense, old-fashioned stores and its bargain-bin ethos, was no longer attractive – television now showed black South Africans frequenting the trendy bars of Cape Town and the posh suburbs on Northern Johannesburg. Pep's customer base slowly eroded throughout the 90s as banks, upmarket stores, restaurants and almost every single consumer goods sector changed its racial profile and began aggressively targeting the black consumer. Pep stores, by the turn of the millennium, seemed destined to become a relic of South Africa's past. But then Pep started doing some serious brand management. A new management team, under the leadership of managing director André Labuschaigne, was appointed in 1998. Labuschaigne, a believer in General Patton's remark that "If you tell your people where to go, but not how to get there, you will be amazed at the results," immediately embarked on a program to make Pep not only relevant to the changing expectations of its client base, but also to the severely demoralized staff who had watched the company decline for half a decade. According to Labuschaigne, Pep has worked hard to offer its customers "good quality products and acceptable styles but still at the lowest prices…in a Wal-Mart kind of way." More importantly, said Labuschaigne, "We have also worked hard to give every employee a sense of belonging. These two factors are the main contributors to our so-called turnaround." How did they do this? Labuschaigne helped initiate a new approach to his predominately black customers and staff. The vehicle he chose was Sikhula Kun Ye (we are growing together), a motto made up of green "people branches" that would permeate every aspect of Pep culture. Company songs were written and sung at Pep gatherings, the staff was encouraged to greet each other with a customary "high five," and new uniforms were issued. Pep also embarked on a massive retraining program and staff members who made a difference in sales and morale were called Dynamos. Labuschaigne also began a process of motivating the staff through various communication media: face to face meetings, workshops, email, videos, conferences, monthly information sessions, newsletters and regional and national conventions. The Pep newsletter was changed from the dreary Pep News to the Africanized Kw@PEP, (at the home of Pep) – the "@" being a nod to a commitment to existing comfortably in the dot-com world. Labuschaigne points out that "By involving all our people in formulating our vision, mission and value system, we got a lot of people on board and they helped to create the change. All future programs stem from Sikhula Kun Ye." According to Labuschaigne, "Pep fits perfectly into the New South Africa as we are probably the only retailer that almost perfectly reflects the population of the country." In other words, Pep isn't going to let itself be abandoned by the client base it helped to create. He says that the key to brand management is to "identify strengths and true values, involve people, shape a dream for them and relentlessly stick to this dream by doing everything, every day to achieve just that." Labuschaigne also took charge of the company's marketing, sprucing up and revising company leaflets, training staff to use megaphones to advertise in-store specials, and encouraging staff to be on a first name basis with customers. The strategy has paid big dividends: as of this writing, Pep now has third place in brand recognition among South African retail stores, having enjoyed an almost 20 percent growth in the year 2001 alone. Labuschaigne also works hard to make Pep an obvious contributor to black empowerment through a comprehensive social investment program that is aimed at the needs of its customers. It has helped fund education, development of entrepreneurship, and health and community advancement projects across Southern Africa. Pep management staff is mandated to become personally involved in these initiatives. As far as the future is concerned, Labuschaigne said, "We will work hard at improving the value of our products, still at the lowest prices, and invest in training programs to differentiate our service at store level from other retailers." Pep's goal is to grow into a brand known worldwide not only for the quality of its stores, but for its consistent efforts at black empowerment and the strength of its brand name.            Ron Irwin is an American freelance writer and lecturer based in Cape Town, South Africa. He is a regular contributor to brandchannel.          Appendix 2 Our success lies in giving our customers what they want.  We are focused on this and our vision, mission and  values verify this too. Delighted customers: our focus and pleasure We strive to be the friendliest and most exciting retailer offering up-to-date and durable products at the best prices. Honesty Passion Resourcefulness PEP sells more than 55% of all school wear sold in SA. As well as clothing and footwear, PEP sells home-ware, beauty, cellular and airtime products and also offers a range of money services – including mobile money (including e-wallet, payments to third parties and cash-backs), Capfin (for loans), funeral policies and more … PEP believes in giving back to the communities it serves. Margins are kept low so that more people are able to buy from PEP. PEP has opened nine Student Prince Academies within existing schools to help give around 1 440 Grade 4 learners the building blocks of education - numeracy and literacy. PEP opened its first store in1965 in the Northern Cape. Read More