Cheapest sandwich ingredients in South Africa: Checkers vs Pick n Pay vs Woolworths and Shoprite

BusinessTech created a basket of ingredients for a South African sandwich and compared the online prices at the top food retailers – Checkers, Pick n Pay, Woolworths, and Shoprite.

Online grocery delivery services are becoming increasingly popular, with nearly all of South Africa’s major supermarkets offering their version of a delivery service. 

One of the most important metrics for most South African consumers when deciding where to shop for food is the price. 

BusinessTech created a basket of items to create one of the most popular lunch items — a simple sandwich — to see how the prices of some of the country’s biggest retailers compare. 

The products and their prices were tracked through the food retailers’ websites. However, no specials were used in this comparison. 

The sandwich basket contained the following items: 

• 700g SASKO Premium Sliced White Bread or store-brand
• 500g Butro Butter Spread
• Tomatoes 4 pack
• Lettuce head
• 600g Cheddar Cheese Lancewood or store-brand
• Avo (single)
• 125g Farmer’s Deli Shaved Smoked Ham or store-brand

At R325.93, the discount retailer Shoprite had the lowest price. 

Interestingly, Checkers – which is owned by the same parent company, Shoprite Holdings – had the most expensive sandwich basket, R343.93. 

Woolworths, which is known for its premium offerings and typically caters to the higher end of the South African market, came out as the second cheapest retailer at R336.93. 

While the shop does offer a wide range of upmarket, “luxury” food items, many of their items are extremely comparable or even cheaper than competing grocery stores. 

As an example, their home-brand, 125g sandwich ham, came out at R39.99, which was the most affordable sandwich meat option in this comparison.

However, for customers looking for a more premium, their store-brand parma ham comes in at R104.99 for 70g. 

Pick n Pay had the second most expensive sandwich, at R340.93.

The cheapest item in this comparison was the single Avo from Shoprite, which was only R9.99.

The most expensive item on the list was the 600g Cheddar Cheese, which cost R119.99 at each of the shops, followed by the butter and the ham. 

Overall, the prices were very competitive between all of the retailers, with a mere 5% difference between the least and most expensive stores. 

With customers facing pressure from inflation and the rising cost of living, it is more important than ever for retailers to offer competitive prices if they want to keep shoppers coming back. 

This is further being pushed by the trend of shoppers relying more on digital platforms to get their groceries. 

Online shopping and grocery delivery services make it more convenient for consumers to do their food shopping, but they also make it easier than ever to compare prices and look for the best available deals. 

While the sandwich listed above is a popular choice for many South African lunches, some may also prefer a sweeter option. 

These are the most to least affordable home-brand peanut butter choices available at the moment for a jar of 400g: 

• Shoprite: R29.99
• Checkers: R38.99
• Pick n Pay: R39.99
• Woolworths: R49.99

Below are the prices for each store’s home-brand 450g strawberry jam options:

• Shoprite: R39.99
• Checkers: R39.99
• Pick n Pay: R44.99
• Woolworths: R47.99

Finally, the prices for a 350g bottle of Nutella are as follows:

• Checkers: R99.99
• Pick n Pay: R99.99
• Shoprite: R104.99
• Woolworths: R 105.99

This means that Woolworths has the most expensive sweet sandwich options, while Shoprite remains the cheapest across the board.

Read: The South African grocery store that is cheaper than Pick n Pay, Checkers, and Spar