Fashion brand Mr. Price, with over 1000 stores across Africa is set to launch its own e-commerce sites before the end of this year according to its quartely report.

The cash retailer whose retail sales for the 26 weeks ended 28 September 2013 increased by 14.6% to R6.9 billion say its focused on avoiding chasing credit sales to drive top-line growth and was pleased that cash sales growth of 15.1% exceeded credit sales growth of 11.6%.

CEO Stuart Bird said Mr Price Apparel will be opening MRP.COM to international markets while Mr Price Home and Sheet Street would be open before the festive season. Apart from the online stores, the firm will also invest on a full HR suite with resource scheduling as a core component to ensure that staff levels are commensurate with trading demands; and an Oracle ERP from legacy systems.

Popular even outside South Africa, Mr. Price Group recently opened two new stores in Nigeria and no longer sees the country as a test market. It had earlier opened two stores in the country.

“We no longer view Nigeria and Ghana as test markets. Although a more efficient supply chain will in time enable us to lower selling prices and be very competitive in those markets, they are currently performing well and confirm their potential,” said Bird. “In addition, the online sales platform will represent a strong growth opportunity globally and will allow a cost effective test of foreign markets,” Bird added.

Apart from setting up eCormmerce sites for the local and international marklets, the group plans to open 43 physical stores soon.

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“There are many opportunities and challenges ahead and we have been working hard on building processes, systems and infrastructure that will form a solid foundation for our growth strategy. Our focus is on ensuring that we are clear about the new territories that we will enter and the trading formats which we will adopt, while ensuring that we continue to build momentum locally,” he concluded.

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