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Herald Reporter
OK Zimbabwe has announced the suspension of its OK Grand Challenge Jackpot Promotion citing the Covid-19 pandemic.

The OK Grand Challenge Jackpot Promotion is the biggest promotion in the country.

This year, however, has been unique due to the pandemic, which has resulted in restrictions to movement, production and supply chain disruptions as well as limited business hours as part of efforts to limit the spread of coronavirus.

“Unfortunately, this year we could not run our biggest annual promotion, the OK Grand Challenge Jackpot Promotion, because of disruptions caused by Covid-19,” said the group in a trading update for the quarter to June 30, 2020.

Since its inception three decades ago, the OK Grand Challenge Jackpot Promotion has grown bigger to become one of the major highlights in the retail sector and for consumers.

Last year, the group launched the promotion despite the economic challenges obtaining then.

According to the group, although Covid-19 has caused disruptions, its stores have remained stocked during the lockdown period.

Said OK: “Generally, however, the stores were reasonably stocked since the lockdown started on 30th March.”

As part of efforts to limit the spread of the virus, OK has implemented various measures such as providing personal protective equipment for staff, temperature checks for both staff and customers, limiting number of people into stores, maintaining social distance as well as engaging suppliers to ensure availability of merchandise for trading.

Meanwhile, the group reported a 32 percent decline in sales volume for the quarter to June 30, 2020 compared to same quarter in the prior year as the market grappled with low disposable incomes due to effects of Covid-19.