Pick n Pay wins global award for its quick retail payments

Pick n Pay has won an international award for its automated supply chain finance solution Pay Fast, which pays suppliers, mostly small scale, within a day of the invoice being approved, at a discount.

Pick n Pay and its supply chain finance partner, Addendum, were named winners in the Best Working Capital Funding Solutions category held in December in Amsterdam. The companies competed against Fortune 500 giants Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Kellogs and Arçelik Global and emerged on top.

Retailers typically pay suppliers from as few as 30 days to 40 or more days later after customers have paid them for goods. This leaves small businesses with cash-flow problems. 

Pick n Pay says it pays small businesses, with R8m turnover a year or less, between seven, 14 or 21 days, whereas the bigger suppliers are paid between 34 and 40 days. 

The Pay Fast payment system combined financial technology group Addendum’s expertise with Pick n Pay’s relationship with bankers was started in 2016. That automated system allows suppliers to choose their invoices to be paid within a day of approval at 0.75% cost of the invoice.

The way the system works is that banks pay the suppliers within a working day of them choosing the immediate payment option, and then collect the money from Pick n Pay a month later.   

Banks make money by charging Pick n Pay the full invoice amount but pay the supplier slightly less than the invoice. 

Gary Lea, group executive retail finance at Pick n Pay, said:  “Combining Addendum technology with Pick n Pay’s relationship with suppliers and banks allows suppliers to get funding at a much better rate than they would be able to get on their own.” 

Addendum co-founder Emuel Schoeman said the programme provided “the simplest and the cheapest form of capital that a supplier can get in a South African market” as they get funding at Pick n Pay’s banking rates rather than their own rates.

Fast Pay is the largest multi-bank supply chain finance programme in Africa, with funding provided to suppliers by all four of the largest commercial banks in SA.

childk@businesslive.co.za