BUSINESS REPORTER
Retail group OK Zimbabwe Limited is mulling including some members of its portfolio as it eyes a bigger and better OK Grand Challenge next year.
The promotion, the biggest and longest on the market, has been running every year since 1988, save for 2020 when it was cancelled due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
OK Zimbabwe CEO Maxen Karombo told Business Times the listed retailer would want to add its portfolio to the promotion.
“We want to include some members of our brand portfolio. We own OK Stores, Bon Marche, we own Food Lovers, we own OK Mart. So, we will see how we will make this exciting,” Karombo said.
The over US$1m edition, which ended on Saturday, had 12.1m entries up from 10m last year.
Karombo said the growth in entries is a testament of the strength in the brand and that “people still trust the brand”.
“I was going to be happy to match the 10m entries that we did last year. This year it was 12.1m that’s a 21% increase, so that tells you the relevance of this promotion in people’s lives. It does not belong to OK. It belongs to Zimbabwe,” he said.
In its trading update for the third quarter ended December 31, OK’s sales volumes decreased by 11.33% for the quarter and 9.37% for the nine months to December 2022 compared to the prior year driven by declining consumer spending power.
The group said a volume recovery plan resulted in a growth of 3% being recorded for the month of December 2022 compared to the prior year.
In its outlook, the group urged authorities to provide more incentives for productive sectors to invest in growth projects and stave off current operational cost increases necessitated by power shortages and exorbitant fuel costs.
