Boxer Stores partnership with Nedbank: Financial inclusion ingenuity

Boxer Stores and Nedbank are a match made in convenience heaven! Doing your bulk shopping and banking all in one store? That is a shopper’s dream come true. Boxer stores draw large numbers of customers because of their pocket-friendly prices. With this, Nedbank opens up to a larger market than they already have. The result – more opportunities for the unbanked to finally open accounts and start saving.

The issue of financial inclusion is one that has been discussed in many forums for years, and banks are finally opening up to the challenge. A reported R12 billion ($1.04 billion) in cash is thought to be kept outside of banks, while an estimated 23.5% of the population is not enrolled in the system. Nedbank has decided to capture this population through Boxer stores.  

The partnership between the two started with stokvels (grocery clubs). The Boxer specials are extremely friendly, moreso to these stokvels. People save money and buy their groceries in bulk to share after a specific period of time. Stokvels also exist for loans, properties, and funerals. Even celebrities like Basetsana Kumalo partake in the stokvel lifestyle. 

If not for the most obvious reason that stokvels are taking away from the official banking alternatives and banks are losing out on this money, for safety reasons, banks are encouraging members to deposit their stokvel savings. Banking reduces the risk of theft or muggings. These accounts will also generate interest, thus enabling members to either buy more groceries, bigger properties, etc., or share the funds when they decide. The story is no different for Nedbank. Since coming together with Boxer, the bank has increased its customer numbers exponentially. The in-store banking facility is expected to drive the numbers even higher.

The good thing about Nedbank driving financial inclusion is that they are not limiting this offer to Boxer stores only; they are also expanding to other supermarkets like Pick n Pay in the near future. Another positive aspect of Nedbank being in-store is that it creates employment. Making locals work in the branches that will be located inside supermarkets makes business sense because it will facilitate customer communication and ensure that the specifics of Nedbank’s terms and conditions are communicated to customers in plain language.

Image Credit: @Nedbank on Twitter

One of the main reasons Nedbank decided to open branches in South African supermarkets was to make it simpler for their clients to access full banking functionality while they were out shopping. Also, to ease the restrictions that could have been associated with travelling to stand alone branches that may have been quite a distance to get to.

Final thoughts

If you do not have a bank account, the opportunity has come knocking. In these tough economic times, we know stokvels have played an integral role in keeping people’s heads above water. However, we hope we have given you enough information to bank the money instead, for better financial management and security.