{"id":840120,"date":"2025-10-16T10:27:03","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T08:27:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=840120"},"modified":"2025-10-16T10:28:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T08:28:00","slug":"warning-about-walmart-prices-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/840120\/warning-about-walmart-prices-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning about Walmart prices in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former Shoprite chief executive, Whitey Basson, warned that it would be difficult for Walmart to beat Checkers and Pick n Pay\u2019s prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walmart, the world\u2019s largest brick-and-mortar retailer, will open its first branded stores<\/a> in South Africa later this year with an aggressive pricing strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kath McLay, Walmart International President and CEO, said their South African stores will offer a wide range of merchandise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The products will include fresh groceries, household essentials, apparel and technology. It will offer a variety of locally sourced products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy partnering with South African suppliers and entrepreneurs, Walmart will bring its signature Every Day Low Prices and global standards to the market,\u201d McLay said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new Walmart stores promise affordable groceries and a selection of family, home and entertainment items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith sites already in development, these new stores are set to open before the end of the year, with official opening dates to be announced in October,\u201d McLay said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery rand matters when it comes to price. This balance of quality and everyday low prices enables us to build customer trust,\u201d said Massmart CEO Miles Van Rensburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Walmart enters a new country, it focuses on low prices, supply chain mastery, and local adaptation to gain market share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A cornerstone of this strategy is Walmart\u2019s Every Day Low Price (EDLP) philosophy, which aims to attract cost-conscious consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt Walmart, our Every Day Low Prices mean you can count on low prices today, tomorrow, next week, and the week after that,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we open stores later this year in South Africa, we\u2019ll bring that same price discipline to the market.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn a country where food security is a challenge for so many, we give customers an opportunity to take charge of their food choices,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whitey Basson\u2019s comments about Walmart\u2019s launch in South Africa<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
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Former Shoprite CEO Whitey Basson<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Although Walmart did not explicitly promise to offer lower prices than its competitors, like Pick \u2018n Pay and Checkers, many people expect this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walmart said it was working to keep prices low so customers could save money when shopping with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simply put, Walmart indicated that its store’s basket of products would be lower than that of its competitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Shoprite CEO and retail expert, Whitey Basson, told Netwerk24<\/a> it will not be easy for Walmart to undercut large retailers like Checkers and Pick n Pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that you need high volumes to reduce prices. As a new entrant, Walmart will not have the same volumes as the large retailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basson said it is good for the South African retail market to get new blood in the form of Walmart\u2019s imminent launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is great for the young professionals at Shoprite to face real competition from Walmart, especially as Pick n Pay was struggling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWalmart will implement the best practices of the retail sector in South Africa. This is good for the sector,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Basson cautioned against people expecting Walmart to offer better prices than the existing players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBetween Shoprite, Pick n Pay, and Food Lover\u2019s Market, the price of food is very low compared to international standards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur profit margins are half what I have seen in Europe and the United States. This should not be the case.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basson added that it would not be easy for Walmart to take on established food retailers in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe young professionals at Shoprite are skilled and hardworking, and are using technology to their benefit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Shoprite chief executive, Whitey Basson, warned that it would be difficult for Walmart to beat Checkers and Pick n Pay\u2019s prices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":840020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[5223,10387,23828,4067,7520,2819,20403],"class_list":["post-840120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-checkers","tag-massmart","tag-miles-van-rensburg","tag-pick-n-pay","tag-shoprite","tag-walmart","tag-whitey-basson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840120"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":840133,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840120\/revisions\/840133"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}