Why More Retailers Might Follow Transerv’s Container Store Blueprint in Zimbabwe

Axia Corporation’s automotive parts and vehicle consumables subsidiary, Transerv has taken a very different approach to retail trade in Zimbabwe. In 2024, Transerv opened eight new retail stores in the Southern African country. This, in and of itself, is not interesting. Zimbabwe's retail industry continuously opens stores yearly because the major metropolitan cities are growing, some more than others. What was curious about Transerv’s expansion in 2024 was that of the eight retail stores that were opened, three of them were container kiosk-style stores.

“Contributing factors include the opening of eight new retail shops, three of which were launched in the last quarter, the erection of three new container shops, one in-store agent, and two service centers.” - Luke E. M. Ngwerume, Axia Corporation Chairman (2024 Annual Report)

What this approach shows, at least to us, is that the experimentation that we thought was beyond large corporations in Zimbabwe is not true (to an extent). It’s more likely that they are pushed to make changes based on an external player coming into the market, as we saw with what Starlink did to the pricing models for unlimited internet of local internet service providers. 

The other thing that it revealed was more than just experimenting, large Zimbabwean corporations are realising that residential development on the outskirts of the capital and other metropolitan areas is not being matched by the expanse of shopping complexes and malls that they would usually tap up for a storefront. 

Moreover, the cost of buying commercial property has been on the increase as of 2022, rising to an average sale price of US$425,000. Simbisa, Zimbabwe’s largest fast food retailer, took the approach of starting its own Property Investment Fund called Pfuma (valued at US$28.5 million) to consolidate its position in Zimbabwe in more than just selling fast food, and not just to compete with the expanse of Country Bird Holding’s recent expansion of KFC branches in the country.