Innovation and efficiencies underpin continued fuel savings for Pepkor.

As a group, Pepkor has always strived to maintain the lowest possible cost of doing business to enable retail brands such as PEP to deliver on its customer promise of making the unaffordable, affordable. Pepkor’s distribution network covers more than 4 000 stores and stretches from urban to extreme remote rural locations across the country.

Over the years, numerous efficiency projects have yielded substantial savings in fuel used in the group’s distribution network. While store footprint expansion continues to increase the group’s total fuel usage, the litres of fuel used to deliver a single cubic metre of stock reduced annually by 2% on average over the past five years – enabling the group to deliver more for less. These optimisation efforts have also reduced the group’s annual CO₂e (carbon dioxide equivalent) intensities per cube by 2% on average since 2017.

Through the group’s centralised logistics unit, Pepkor Logistics (PKL), innovative technology applications drive efficiencies in aspects that include driver behaviour, routing optimisation and time management. The PAXI parcel delivery service, which leverages the group’s retail footprint, now handles 13 400 parcels daily and utilises the empty return leg of trucks through reverse logistics – further driving efficiencies.

One of Pepkor’s most significant differentiators is its ability to manage an extensive retail footprint and supply chain at the lowest possible cost.