{"id":112359,"date":"2016-02-12T09:55:59","date_gmt":"2016-02-12T07:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=112359"},"modified":"2016-08-18T17:45:23","modified_gmt":"2016-08-18T15:45:23","slug":"price-war-spar-vs-pick-n-pay-vs-checkers-2012-to-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/112359\/price-war-spar-vs-pick-n-pay-vs-checkers-2012-to-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Price war: Spar vs Pick n Pay vs Checkers – 2012 to 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Consumer site, Retail Price Watch<\/a><\/strong> has compared the prices of 50 national brands from Spar, Pick n Pay and Checkers stores across the country between 2012 – 2016.<\/p>\n

A food basket survey published by the Markets and Economic Research Centre (MERC) earlier this month showed that food prices in South Africa have increased 8.7% between December 2014 – December 2015 \u2013 exceeding the inflation rates of the consumer price index (CPI).<\/p>\n

According to AgriSA, white maize prices have increased by 150% over the past 12 months, with yellow maize prices up by 80%.<\/p>\n

Industry analysts haveed predict that food prices in the country would likely shoot up by another 10% by the middle of 2016 (hitting 25% higher by April 2017), while\u00a0AgriSA says food prices will be 15% higher by the end of 2016, affecting the poorest of the poor \u2013 who spend up to 40% of total income on food \u2013 hardest.<\/p>\n

According to the data from Retail Price Watch, in January 2012 a basket of 50 identical grocery items cost R1,033 in Spar, R1,036 in Checkers and R1,058 in Pick n Pay – a differential between Spar as the cheapest and Pick n Pay as the most expensive of only 2.4%.<\/p>\n

By January 2015 the same basket cost R1,120 in Pick n Pay, R1,214 in Checkers and R1,237 in Spar. Pick n Pay came in cheaper but the difference between the three stores remains marginal at 3.1%.<\/p>\n

By January 2016 the basket was the least expensive (R1,281) at Checkers, R1,316 at Pick n Pay and R1,351 at Spar, with the differential widening to 5.4%.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n
Retailer<\/th>\nAverage Basket January 2012<\/th>\nAverage Basket January 2015<\/th>\nAverage Basket January 2016<\/th>\nRate of inflation 2012-2015 (3 year average)<\/th>\nRate of inflation 2015-2016<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Spar<\/td>\nR1 032.99<\/td>\nR1 237.28<\/td>\nR1 350.69<\/td>\n6.20%<\/td>\n9.17%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pick n Pay<\/td>\nR1 057.94<\/td>\nR1 199.86<\/td>\nR1 316.02<\/td>\n4.28%<\/td>\n9.68%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Checkers<\/td>\nR1 035.85<\/td>\nR1 214.17<\/td>\nR1 281.36<\/td>\n5.44%<\/td>\n5.53%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cAt the moment Spar\u2019s prices for the 50 goods are the highest but the data suggests that the chains\u2019 pricing fluctuates over time and that one should never assume there is a single ‘best value for money’ store,\u201d said Viccy Baker of Retail Price Watch.<\/p>\n

Checkers average inflation rate was 5.44% for the 3 years prior to 2015. In 2015 it was 5.53% for the basket.<\/p>\n

Spar\u2019s basket average inflation rate was 6.2% for the same three years, rising to 9.17% in 2015.<\/p>\n

Pick n Pay\u2019s basket average inflation rate was 4.28 for the three years prior, while in 2016 it was 9.68%.<\/p>\n

Some of the items that saw the biggest price increase between 2015 and 2016 are:<\/p>\n