Zimbabwe’s Bon Marché spreads its premium-brand wings outside Harare

OK Zimbabwe says it designed the new-look store using the latest thinking in retail architecture. This emphasises natural light, sustainability and quality finishing.

“We began with the shopper in mind and built our store around international trends that make shopping more pleasurable and enjoyable,” explains Juliet Ziswa, Group Marketing Director for OK Zimbabwe.

“The store, for example, has very wide aisles to accommodate family shopping missions. It optimises the use of a lot of light throughout the store to accentuate the freshness of our fruit and vegetable range, and we have built sustainability into the design by using glass door coolers throughout the shop for better energy efficiency.”

Clear intention to diversify

According to Pindula News, the expansion of Bon Marché into non-traditional geographies “signals a deliberate and clear intention by the group to diversify its income from the core middle market, cornered by its eponymous OK Stores”.

Bon Marché outlets are typically located in Harare’s more upmarket northern suburbs. Marondera is an affluent city of around 57,000 people and is situated on the Beira-Bulawayo railway line. It is known for some of the country’s best private schools and has wineries.

There is tough competition in the local grocery retail sector from the likes of Spar, Pick n Pay, N Richards and OK Stores.