Upon realizing that PEP customers sometimes struggle with paying off those items they’ve asked a store to set aside for them. The store has launched a Lay-by Buddy initiative where PEP customers can contribute as little as R2 in-store or R20 online to alleviate the financial pressure from PEP customers.
Beneficiaries selected at random by the system receive a voucher via SMS to redeem against the outstanding balance of their lay-by.
According to PEP CEO, Jaap Hamman, the beauty of the initiative is that it was a customer’s idea. “A customer came into our store in Mossel Bay (this was at the end of 2019) and this amazing citizen decided to pay up all the debt in that store,” said Hamman. This one act of kindness led to more and more customers coming in to contribute in the same way.
“We felt it’s our duty to support it and that was the start of the Lay-by Buddy initiative. In the last couple of weeks, there was a big spike in contributions. It’s a wonderful month so far in receiving and handing these out to our customers” said Hamman. He confirmed that he received calls from individuals in the business world to make contributions totalling more than R300,000.
“We’ve contacted more than 17,000 customers with this good news! We all do have the opportunity to change the country by small acts of kindness. Give a little and you help a lot! As long as the momentum is there we will keep on encouraging it. We also make our own contributions. To date, 4,000 customers have made contributions,” said Hamman.
To take part, ask for a Lay-by Buddy voucher at a PEP store or select the Lay-by Buddy option on their website.
