Case Study

Cashbuild cuts in-store fraud and streamlines payments across 318+ stores

About Cashbuild

Cashbuild is the largest retailer of building materials and associated products, selling directly to cash-paying customers through its 318 (and growing) stores in South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini and Malawi.

Cashbuild, employs over 6 000 people, and comprises of Cashbuild Limited and the operating subsidiaries registered in the abovementioned countries. Cashbuild is the first-choice retailer in its chosen field in all the regions in which it operates. It achieves this by carrying a focused, in-depth, quality product range at the most competitive prices to meet the needs of the local market for homebuilders, home improvers, contractors, farmers, traders as well as any other persons wanting to purchase quality building materials for cash.

Cashbuild shares have been listed on the JSE Securities Exchange since 1986.

The challenge

In 2018, Cashbuild faced a critical challenge: internal fraud and operational inefficiencies around customer payments were costing the business millions of rands annually. Store-level systems operated independently, creating silos and leaving the business vulnerable. Paper-based processes, manual reconciliations, and a lack of integration across stores made it difficult to manage contract customers and scale payment security.

"Any business looking to scale, reduce risk, and simplify their payment infrastructure would benefit from working with Altron FinTech." – Gillian Mead, Finance Shared Services Executive at Cashbuild.

The solution

After evaluating banks and other institutions, with no success, Cashbuild partnered with Altron FinTech to design and implement a solution that would bring security, simplicity, and control to their payments infrastructure. Altron FinTech was chosen because of their ability to build a system from scratch that met Cashbuild’s unique requirements.

Transformational benefits

Drastic fraud reduction: Fraud was virtually eradicated. Any suspicious activity is now detected within two days, compared to months previously.

Operational efficiency: Reconciliation is now automated and accurate. Corporate offices handle all recons seamlessly.

Customer experience: Checkout is quicker, smoother, and more reliable, delivering consistency across all stores.

Lean staffing model: Automation allowed Cashbuild to maintain leaner finance teams without compromising service.

System uptime: Reliable transaction uptime, issues are rare, “if we don’t hear about it, it means it’s working perfectly.”

Cashbuild sees Altron FinTech not just as a vendor, but as a trusted partner. The Altron FinTech team is highly respected for their professionalism, transparency, and ability to deliver working solutions fast especially under pressure.