South Africa’s worst retailer for customer service – and the biggest complaints
A new report has revealed that of the five most popular grocery retailers in South Africa, Pick n Pay received the most customer complaints in 2023.
This is according to DataEQ’s 2024 South African Retail Sentiment Index, which provides a comprehensive analysis of consumer sentiment toward the country’s leading grocery chains.
South Africa’s top five grocery retailers dominate the market, catering to millions of customers with diverse needs.
Shoprite, the largest retailer, offers a broad range of products at competitive prices. Pick n Pay follows, known for its extensive supermarket and hypermarket chains.
Spar, with its network of independently owned stores, emphasizes community engagement. Woolworths stands out for its premium, high-quality food products and sustainability focus.
Checkers, part of the Shoprite Group, targets a more affluent customer base, focusing on fresh produce and gourmet foods.
These retailers collectively shape South Africa’s grocery landscape.
DataEQ analysed over 1.8 million public social media posts from 1 January to 31 December 2023 to understand consumer satisfaction and key performance metrics for Woolworths, Shoprite, Checkers, SPAR, and Pick n Pay.
According to the data, the volume of online conversations and engagement within the industry witnessed a notable increase, having grown from 1.6 million mentions in 2022 to 1.8 million mentions in 2023.
This growth has largely been driven by the retailers themselves, with brand posts having increased by over 180%.
Industry-wide, South African retail Net Sentiment is up from 3.3% to 8.8% compared to the previous year.
Net Sentiment is a real-time metric of how customers feel about a brand, offering an alternative to lagging customer satisfaction metrics such as Net Promoter Score.
It is measured by collecting unstructured data from publicly available online conversations.
In an industry-wide recovery, all five retailers saw year-on-year improvements in Net Sentiment, while Woolworths maintained its first-place rank.
The report showed that Woolworths tops the overall Net Sentiment ranking with a score of 19.5%, 10.7 pp above the industry average.
Customer satisfaction
According to DataEQ, the South African retail industry is a highly competitive environment in which players vie to attract and retain consumers who are looking to spend according to value for money while receiving immediate and reliable customer service.
There are three major aspects through which retailers can offer value to consumers: pricing, customer service, and quality products.
Although customer service comprised the smallest share of voice across these retailers’ online presences, some still received more complaints than others.
According to the data, Pick n Pay was the retailer with the lowest customer service performance.
They saw the highest proportion of complaints for:
- Turnaround time,
- staff competency, and
- Refunds/returns,
Many of these complaints were related to Pick n Pay’s delivery app, ASAP!, which negatively impacted customers’ overall perceptions of the retailer.
All retailers had negative Net Sentiment towards customer service, with issues around turnaround time and staff conduct emerging as the biggest complaint drivers.
Checkers saw the least negative sentiment for customer service, having shown major improvements in turnaround time and response rates.
This was primarily linked to improved experiences on the Sixty60 delivery app.
Despite this, the report highlighted that digital facilities saw more complaints—with operational factors such as slow delivery times, low stock, and items nearing expiration impacting experiences.
DataEQ noted that customer service feedback industry-wide improved year-on-year but remained largely negative overall.
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