Gary Arthur Van Der Berg

Talented Director with excellent marketing, customer service and facility oversight skills coupled with more than 26 years of experience. Highly effective and comfortable working with people at all organizational levels.

I started out as a casual in 1990 during school years and was appointed as casual controller in 1992 Shoprite Checkers.

After first year studying BCOM Econ I was not able to further my studies due to financial constraints but continued working at Shoprite Checkers and was identified and invited to join the management program that was endorsed by Peninsula Technicon at the time.

After completing the training I was appointed as a sales manager and worked at several stores before my appointment as an administration manager. During my tenure at Checkers Meadowridge, I was acknowledged for my abilities and was appointed as a trainee buyer to the hardware and outdoor category. After training with several seniors in several categories and was appointed as the auto and outdoor buyer. I was appointed as the electrical smalls buyer and after excelling in the category was appointed as the small appliance buyer reporting directly to the Director. Part of requirements was to travel to China and manage new ranges and categories selection and production process. I went to China between 3-4 times per year to establish a strong OEM presence that gave a substantial growth in profitability and brand recognition. During the expansion of Shoprite Checkers into Africa I headed the openings of the stores in Angola, Nigeria, Zambia and Mozambique, due to my experience in stores and was responsible for the store layouts and training of personnel in the non foods categories.

In 2006 I was approached by the Clicks Group to become part of the Discom Group and to be fast tracked to Top management. Unfortunately Discom was sold and I was approached by Edcon to head up the small appliance business. I grew their business by 42 % over 2 years by implementing an OEM strategy to compete with other retailers in South Africa. After visiting Israel and identifying the opportunity to do knock down furniture the company started a R100 million program.

I then decided to move back to Cape Town and joined Join Asia Corp as the Sales Director and started doing business with Clicks where I managed a corporate account of $4,8million on the SAFEWAY brand in SA.

In 2014 I registered Gem Appliances (PTY)LTD after identifying all the challenges that SA retail was facing doing small appliances. I created a business model that would make it easier for SA retailers to start OEM brands and have better control over the quality as well as the production and shipping timelines.

We have worked with several retailers since 2014 that includes Kaapagri, TFG, Edcon, Dischem, Clicks and several smaller companies that required support with their import programs.