Photo by: Leandi Kolver
Total South Africa (SA), a subsidiary of listed French multinational Total, has partnered with JSE-listed Famous Brands and speciality grocer Thrupps to provide Total service station customers with a new convenience offering.
Thrupps on Tuesday opened its first store in a Total forecourt, in Senderwood, Bedfordview, as a pilot site to determine how consumers would react to the offering, Famous Brands Food Services CEO Darren Hele told Engineering News Online.
Total SA sales and marketing GM Qetello Zeka explained that Total had been looking to differentiate its offering, being conscious of the growing importance of convenience.
“We are still a fuel retailer but we want to ensure we have partners that are attractive enough to bring the customers to us,” she explained.
Total SA had approached Famous Brands, with which it has a long-standing relationship, with this request, after which Famous Brands proposed the partnership with Thrupps.
“Thrupps is a respected brand, a speciality store,” she said, stating that through the introduction of these stores, Total SA was targeting discerning consumers looking for speciality brands that could now be accessed in a more convenient manner.
Meanwhile, Thrupps owner Chris Keene said the store had, ten years ago, started mulling the expansion of its offering, as the proliferation of supermarkets and malls had a negative impact on the company’s delivery business.
“We see this [partnership] as much more appropriate for us than trying to deliver into the homes of people [in the greater Johannesburg areas]. Famous Brands is offering the ability, through its logistics network, to reach a wider group of consumers, ultimately nationally,” he stated.
Further, Hele explained that Famous Brands benefited from this partnership, as it enabled the company to enter the retail space.
“But the main benefit for us is that our existing brands, such as Steers, still form a part of it. So from our perspective, we are able to serve a single market with multiple brands,” he said.
Hele further stated that there had been a view that about 50 similar Thrupps stores could be rolled out at Total SA service stations over the medium-term; however, this would depend on consumer demand and reaction.
Zeka emphasised that Thrupps would not replace Total’s existing Bonjour store brand at all its service stations, as Bonjour was still better suited for some areas.