{"id":867967,"date":"2026-08-02T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=867967"},"modified":"2026-07-31T16:08:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T14:08:02","slug":"shoprite-coming-after-pick-n-pay-and-spar-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/867967\/shoprite-coming-after-pick-n-pay-and-spar-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Shoprite coming after Pick n Pay and Spar in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Shoprite is boosting demand with competitive prices as South Africans change how they spend and what they spend on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South African consumers are currently facing significant financial challenges, primarily due to escalating fuel prices and increased interest rates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this challenging environment, Foord Asset Management Equity Analyst Dhersan Chetty said that grocery shoppers continue to spend, although their spending habits have changed significantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africans are adopting more prudent shopping behaviours, which include actively seeking promotions, opting for more affordable brands, and shopping at retailers that provide the most competitive pricing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This transformation in consumer purchasing patterns has resulted in a pronounced distinction between successful and underperforming grocery retailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chetty <\/strong>said that retailers such as Shoprite, particularly its Checkers brand, and Boxer are experiencing notable success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis trend has helped Shoprite and Boxer gain share from Pick \u2018n Pay and Spar, which have faced both market pressure and internal challenges,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing price competitive is no longer enough. Retailers also need the right format, stock availability, data and customer loyalty to turn value into repeat business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that this is due to effectively attracting customers by offering low prices, leveraging advanced technology to provide targeted discounts, and delivering highly convenient grocery delivery services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chetty explained that Shoprite\u2019s Checkers brand has excelled in this regard; its scale provides significant buying power, and its data analytics enable more targeted promotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sixty60 platform has also shifted customer perceptions of Checkers, transforming it from merely a middle-income supermarket chain to a convenient grocery option for many. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some consumers, it has replaced their weekly shopping trips to Pick \u2018n Pay or quick stops at Spar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This change is not confined to online shopping; once customers alter their perceptions of a brand, it can influence their in-store shopping habits as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that retailers such as Pick \u2018n Pay and Spar are experiencing a decline in customer loyalty as they lose market share to more competitive players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clothing sector may take a hit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

According to Chetty, the clothing sector poses the greatest challenge for retailers, as it is more discretionary and faces intense competition from China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, the food retail sector remains relatively safer, though even here, the leading companies are distinguishing themselves from the rest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPick \u2018n Pay subsidiary Boxer is winning in a different way. Its discount grocery model is built on a narrower product range, high volumes and low prices,\u201d Chetty said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that this appeals to shoppers managing tight household budgets, and to suppliers that need scale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boxer is expanding from a low market-share base in both attractive nodes and rural or semi-urban areas where formal retail remains underpenetrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woolworths presents a different scenario. Its food business has maintained resilience due to high product quality, brand trust, and a loyal base of middle- to upper-income customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Chetty highlighted that its online offering lags behind Sixty60, particularly in delivery availability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Woolworths brand remains strong, the convenience gap has become significant as consumer shopping habits evolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Private label supermarket sales should, in theory, benefit from price-conscious consumers. However, in practice, growth has been slower than expected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Penetration of private label products is already reasonably high in South Africa, while local production capacity is limited. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Branded food producers are responding by cutting costs, simplifying packaging, and launching cheaper product variants, which narrow the gap between branded and private-label items. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lower oil prices may offer some immediate relief to households and retailers\u2019 transport costs, but the benefit is unlikely to reverse the full petrol price increases that followed the on-again-off-again US-Iran war. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shoprite is coming after Pick n Pay and Spar as its competitive prices draw in more customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":862736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2083915984318943465","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2164573787696354","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18150105709512716","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[17375,4674,7520,9838,23527],"class_list":["post-867967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-foord-asset-management","tag-pick-and-pay","tag-shoprite","tag-spar","tag-wooloworths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867967","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\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867967"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":868033,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867967\/revisions\/868033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}