Pumpkin Patch to Offer Credit with ACET Processing

Cape Town, 15 November 2007 – Pumpkin Patch, an international fashion retailer, has launched a private label credit card by partnering with Tenacity Inc. and ACET Processing, the foremost provider of outsourced consumer finance solutions in Africa.

Pumpkin Patch is Australasia's leading children's fashion company with over 200 stores worldwide. Following the opening of the first Pumpkin Patch store in South Africa in March 2006, the company has enjoyed steady growth and now operates five outlets in the country’s most popular shopping malls. The company’s continued strength of sales is confirmation of the brand’s local popularity, and positions Pumpkin Patch for further expansion.

Pumpkin Patch identified the need to provide consumers with a choice of payment and credit options, whilst maximising the revenue opportunities for the Pumpkin Patch stores. By recognising the opportunity to partner with ACET Processing, Pumpkin Patch is able to take advantage of ACET’s processing solution. This unique solution is a combination of world-class technology with an unparalleled skills base, thereby overcoming the cost and resource limitations associated with developing internal systems.

Through financial services company Tenacity, ACET provides Pumpkin Patch with a comprehensive outsourced credit system across the entire credit lifecycle. Through this partnership Pumpkin Patch gains access to the world’s leading consumer finance system, VisionPLUS®, as used by leading South African retailers such as Woolworths, Truworths, Edcon and Foschini.

Mike Crawley, Managing Director at ACET Processing, comments, “One of the main steps for credit retailers to become more competitive is to outsource credit processing operations. Market research has revealed that almost 95% of US private label cards are now outsourced to third parties, up from a mere 53% five years ago. ACET Processing is pleased to provide our local market with the same benefits that the outsourced business model has done for international markets.”


About ACET Processing
With offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg, ACET Processing offers clients across Africa access to both the VisionPLUS® account processing system and the TRIAD™ account management solution. ACET Processing is jointly owned by PIC Solutions, the largest credit risk management consultancy based in the EMEA region, and First Data International. Through this unique combination of proven state-of-the-art credit and risk systems, world-class third party processing expertise and established customer management solutions, ACET Processing provides clients across Africa with an unsurpassed range of services.