Pick n Pay taps Spencer Sonn to lead next leg of its turnaround

What the company announced

Sonn's track record and why it matters

Sonn, 56, brings a long retail resume. He ran Woolworths Holdings Ltd.'s food division from 2015 to 2021, then headed the New Zealand business of the separate Australian Woolworths Group Ltd. for four years, where he led a turnaround and the renaming of Countdown supermarkets. Last year he returned to South Africa and took on the role of Woolworths Holdings' chief customer officer. Earlier this month, Woolworths announced a tighter emphasis on its premium South African food business, and new CEO Sam Ngumeni plans to channel more investment into that unit.

According to Bloomberg Intelligence, naming Sonn CEO-designate effective Feb. 1, 2027 and having him work with Summers for the final 15 months of his contract suggests a protracted turnaround that requires fresh thinking to boost sales and margins.

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What's improved, what hasn't

Summers rejoined in October 2023 after years of slippage, amid a warning that the company was on track to post its maiden interim loss. In the period since, Pick n Pay secured additional funding, closed or converted underperforming outlets, and listed its faster-growing discount banner, Boxer Retail Ltd., on the Johannesburg market. It has also tried to reboot the flagship supermarkets by upgrading fresh food and tightening store standards.

The core supermarket business is still under pressure. Four months ago, Pick n Pay delayed its timetable for that division to break even on trading profit. In fiscal 2026, the supermarket arm recorded a 1 billion-rand trading loss, even as Boxer delivered 2.6 billion rand in trading profit.

What this means for your money

Putting Sonn alongside Summers signals continuity with a twist: keep the fixes that are working, and bring in a seasoned operator to push the rest over the line. For anyone watching the South African grocery aisle, the spread between Boxer's gains and the core supermarket losses is the key storyline to track.

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