At a Glance
- Customer-first pricing and ethics built enduring trust and loyalty across generations of shoppers.
- Scalable store formats enabled rapid African expansion without sacrificing local relevance or affordability.
- Long-term ownership focus supported reinvestment, partnerships, succession planning and sustainable billion-dollar retail growth.
Retail entrepreneurs seeking long-term success can draw powerful lessons from the Ackerman family business model. The founders of Pick n Pay built one of Africa’s most influential retail chains by embedding disciplined billionaire habits focused on values, scale and patience.
Purpose before profit
Raymond Ackerman believed that doing good was good business. Pick ‘n Pay’s commitment to affordability, ethical pricing and fairness was not marketing rhetoric but a core operating principle.
This customer-first mindset earned trust and loyalty across generations, transforming everyday shoppers into lifelong advocates.
Scaling without losing relevance
From four stores in Cape Town in 1967, Pick ‘n Pay expanded to more than 2,000 outlets across eight African countries.
The group’s multi-format strategy, including Pick ‘n Pay, Boxer, Express and TM Supermarkets, allowed it to serve diverse income segments while maintaining operational efficiency.
This balance between scale and local relevance remains a critical habit for retail growth in emerging markets. Today, Pick ‘n Pay Stores Ltd. is South Africa’s second-largest grocery chain.
Long-term ownership thinking
Unlike short-term profit-driven models, the Ackermans retained significant equity stakes, aligning leadership decisions with generational value creation.
This patient capital approach enabled consistent reinvestment in logistics, infrastructure and digital platforms, including one of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest online grocery networks.
To date, the founding family still owns significant stakes. Late last year, 2025, the family, which holds its interest through Ackerman Investment Holdings, pledged to offer up to 64,038,857 shares in a private placement while still retaining 135,354,720 shares after the sale.
Operational discipline and strategic partnerships
Strategic acquisitions such as Boxer Superstores and partnerships like BP Pick ‘n Pay Express demonstrate how collaboration can accelerate expansion without overstretching capital.
These moves reflect a disciplined approach to growth anchored in strong unit economics.
Investing in people and society
Through initiatives such as the Ackerman Pick n Pay Foundation and the Raymond Ackerman Academy, the family embedded skills development into its retail ecosystem.
Investing in people strengthened communities, built internal talent pipelines and reinforced long-term brand credibility.
Succession planning as a strategy
By transitioning leadership to the next generation while maintaining governance oversight, the Ackermans preserved institutional culture and strategic continuity. Succession was treated as a growth asset, not a risk.
For retail entrepreneurs, the Ackerman family proves that billionaire success is built on values-driven leadership, disciplined execution and patience, not hype.
