Reading Time: 2 minutes

The number of people applying for credit from Mr Price shot up by 42.7% in the last 3 months.

That’s a lot of people wanting to buy now and pay later. It seems that people’s appetite for new clothing, sports goods and home items is once again on the increase.

But in something of a surprise Mr Price only approved 18.7% of those applications.  It seems that Mr Price like many other retailers are continuing to be very careful about who they allow to buy on credit.

Cash vs. Credit

It might surprise you to learn that the majority of people buying at Mr price are paying upfront in full for their purchases and not using store credit to pay.

In fact, cash sales make up 87.5% of their total sales and went up by 5.2%. Credit sales, on the other hand, staid almost exactly the same as last year.

 That is not to say that these consumers who pay upfront are not making use of other forms of credit but they are not doing so on Mr Price store accounts.

Facing Fierce Competition

Mr Price and many other local retailers, especially those selling clothes and shoes, are feeling the pinch due to competition.

Online retailers from China, like Shein and Temu, have been tough competitors with prices that are hard to beat.

One factor that has helped sales in the past few months has been Eskom keeping the lights on and the stores running. This seems to have translated into more sales during this time compared to when loadshedding was at its peak.

More Sales and More Market Share

Despite the challenge coming from international drop shipping retailers, Mr Price has being doing quite well.

Their in store sales grew by 4.6% in the last 3 months (in part due to three recent acquisitions and a growing market share).

While others have been scaling back they have even added 35 new stores, bringing their total to 2,935.

Online their sales are also on the rise (especially for Mr Price Apparel) meaning they are competing well with the likes of Temu and Shien and the government’s recent closing of import tax and VAT amounts on such imports will probably also be a factor in the months ahead.

It seems that even though they have been turning down people for credit they are still making sales and growing their market share.