Quickshop convenience moves further into Africa
Starting with Namibia and Botswana, Project Reinvigorate has since modernised a number of existing Engen service stations in various sub-Saharan African countries.
Mike Cook, retail manager for Engen International Business, says the spread of the new Quickshops across Engen's operations, in 15 territories, started with a bang in the Namibian market, which sports 30 new-look Quickshop sites today, as does Botswana.
Expansion
Zambia, where the standardisation roll-out continued, currently has three revamped sites. Jerome Gambo, convenience specialist at Engen IBD, says Engen recently introduced the successful Corner Bakeries partner franchise in Zambia, which is set to push the drive to further ratchet up operating and branding standards.
Malawi lays claim to one new Quickshop. Meanwhile, in Mozambique the company has built three new-look sites to add to its existing network, and is adding Corner Bakeries to three more sites as a precursor to complete revitalisation.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Engen acquired Shell's operations in 2008, the oil company has thus far added brand new Quickshops to 15 sites.
In Zimbabwe, its existing network has increased by 47 from a 2010 acquisition of Chevron's business in that country. Gambo says Engen is currently looking at installing Quickshops into six of those sites, with more on the cards down the line.
Engen's retail business plan for 2013 envisages 20 more state-of-the-art Quickshop sites by the end of the year, as well as 30 Corner Bakeries.
