About Pick n pay

Pick n Pay Stores Limited is a South African-based retailer founded by Raymond Ackerman in 1967. The company rapidly expanded across South Africa and into other African countries, becoming a household name known for its wide range of products, competitive pricing, and customer-centric approach.
Adding online e-commerce to their portfolio, Pick n Pay recognized the growing importance of e-commerce and ventured into the online space by launching a dedicated mobile application Pick n Pay asap + SmartShopper for grocery and supermarket delivery, aimed to expand their digital customer base.

Challenge

Pick n Pay had a solid foundation with its mobile app for online grocery delivery. However, the challenge lay in fully realising its potential, increasing user engagement, and driving a stronger conversion from installs to active shoppers.

The opportunity was clear: transform a successful app into a high-performing growth channel.

Objective

To develop and execute a focused mobile marketing strategy that would:

  • Drive app installations

  • Increase In-App purchases

  • Get a high conversion rate of installs to first-time purchases or “order placed”

Our Approach

By diversifying placements and A/B testing performance, we delivered and scaled quality installs with best-performing inventory, precisely within a specified monthly target. Additionally, through daily optimisations and maintaining a healthy daily budget, we successfully avoided a significant CAC increase. 

Execution Method

Comprehensive Keyword Research

We conducted in-depth keyword research, identifying high-volume, relevant search terms that potential customers in Pick n Pay's target markets were using within app stores (e.g., “online grocery delivery [city/region]”, “supermarket app”, “buy groceries online Africa”, competitor app names).

Inventory Placement

As part of the optimisation effort, we used two types of placements:

SDK placements:

Which were carefully chosen to align with the user's natural flow through the app, such as displaying ads at logical points of transition or offering rewards for specific actions.

OEM placements:

This included pre-installation, in-device recommendations, and other native placements within the device's UI. 
We created a combination of the placements towards the KPI’s, adjusting for performance along the way.

Converting Engaged Users into Customers

  • Highlighting welcome offers: reminding new users about their available discounts

  • Showcasing popular products and deals: drawing attention to attractive offers and best-selling items

  • Addressing potential barriers: providing clear information about delivery options, payment methods, and customer support directly within the app

ML and signals from previous campaigns, based on purchase behaviour, enabled us to identify the right user and target them precisely

Results 

Through our focused and data-driven app marketing approach, we successfully achieved and surpassed the target KPI metrics for Pick n Pay's online grocery delivery app:

  • Achieved an install to purchase rate of 29%

  • Reduced Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) by 10%

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