Marilize Redelinghuys, head of retail modernisation, Mr Price Group. (Photograph: Lesley Moyo)
Mr Price Group, a JSE-listed, cash-based omnichannel retailer, has reduced its application landscape from nearly 400 systems to 103 over the past five years as part of a broader technology modernisation programme aimed at supporting growth while maintaining operational efficiency.
This is according to Marilize Redelinghuys, head of retail modernisation at Mr Price Group, who addressed delegates at the ITWeb Cloud Summit 2026, held recently in Johannesburg, on modernising legacy applications for cloud environments.
Over the transformation period, the retailer grew revenue by 87% and its store footprint by 124%, even as it cut its application estate. With 16 trading divisions spanning apparel, homeware, sports, telecoms and financial services, the group reported revenue of R42.7 billion for FY2026. It operates more than 3 100 stores and employs approximately 33 000 associates. The company has focused on reducing technology complexity rather than adding more systems.
Redelinghuys said the hosting decision – whether cloud or on-premises, SaaS, PaaS or IaaS – should follow from the application decision, not drive it. “It’s really about choosing the application before you choose the cloud,” she said.
Cloud strategy should be the result of business and application decisions, rather than the starting point, she added.
Redelinghuys also highlighted the importance of scrutinising software vendors beyond product demonstrations. Mr Price evaluates application architecture, hosting models, data structures and product roadmaps to ensure technology investments align with long-term business objectives.
“Passion, value and partnership are among the core values of our business, and that extends to all our partners. As much as it is the associates who work for the group, it also includes our extended partner ecosystem. We want strategic partners that work with us to achieve the goals of the business,” she said.
“As a group, we have a hybrid of strategies and have learned that even experienced on-premises engineers do not automatically translate to cloud expertise. You don’t just put your servers in the cloud and your team instinctively knows what to do. We have upskilled our engineers and partnered with experienced providers who can teach us some of the ropes while we learn alongside them,” she said.
The retailer’s transformation journey has also required it to assess licensing models carefully. Rather than focusing solely on upfront costs, the company considers how licensing structures will scale as transaction volumes and business operations grow.
“As a group, we look at the licence model, not just the price tag,” she said, explaining that licensing tied to transaction volumes, revenue or cloud consumption can become increasingly expensive as a business grows.
“Cloud alone doesn’t modernise a solution,” she said. “If you’re not upgrading and modernising regularly, you can end up with a more expensive legacy solution in the cloud.”
