Additionally, as more retailers were added to the survey, they\u2019ve had to tweak the shopping list as it has become difficult to find comparable products across the different stores. As of June 2023, for example, The Outlier no longer compares the price of a 9-pack of two-ply toilet paper. Instead, they added four new items to the basket, bringing it to a total of 12 items – which explains the jump in prices from May to June. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These new items were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- 500g Fatti\u2019s & Moni\u2019s spaghetti, or store brand<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 400g smooth Black Cat peanut butter<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 1kg Jungle Oats<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 100 Joko tagless teabags<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
The Outlier also noted that, in some cases, store brand alternatives are used because some stores only keep the store brand versions of those items. When some items aren\u2019t available in-store, the online prices were considered. The comparison covers the various retailers in several areas within Gauteng.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cheapest retailer <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the data, the cheapest grocery retailer, on average, in 2023 so far is Food Lover’s Market, with the basket costing an average of R417.75 per month<\/strong>. This is R16.82 less than the second cheapest retailer \u2013 Shoprite (R434.57).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In contrast, Spar had the most expensive basket, costing R447.25 on average per month<\/strong> since the start of the year, which is R29.50 more than Food Lover’s Market. It must be noted that Spar is franchised, meaning prices and items can vary from store to store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interestingly, our analysis shows that the prices of Checkers, Woolworths, and Pick n Pay – which are competing for much of the same consumer base – are very similar, with little differences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pick n Pay, surprisingly, is the most expensive out of the three, with its basket costing R442.08 on average, which is only R5.67 more than Checkers and R3.18 more than Woolworths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The graph below shows the average price of The Outlier’s grocery basket per month across the six retailers from January to July 2023. The table shows the actually monthly prices recorded each month. <\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Picture2.png\")
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