{"id":872453,"date":"2026-08-27T17:02:46","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T15:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=872453"},"modified":"2026-08-27T17:05:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T15:05:17","slug":"new-retailer-launching-stores-in-south-africa-coming-after-shoprite-and-boxer-heres-how-they-look-inside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/872453\/new-retailer-launching-stores-in-south-africa-coming-after-shoprite-and-boxer-heres-how-they-look-inside\/","title":{"rendered":"New retailer launches in South Africa, coming after Shoprite and Boxer – here’s how it looks inside"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Clicks is pushing deeper into the economy of South Africa\u2019s predominantly Black urban communities with a new brand aimed at competing for consumers who often shop outside of formal retail stores.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opening its first KwaMakhi outlet on Thursday, Clicks\u2019 plan is to compete on price, quality and convenience, Chief Executive Officer Bertina Engelbrecht said in an interview. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The store is northeast of Johannesburg in\u00a0Tembisa<\/a>, one of the country\u2019s many townships whose origins lie in apartheid-era segregation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KwaMakhi, which roughly translates as \u201cat my neighbour\u2019s\u201d in several local languages, is built around the idea of a shop within walking distance of home, where customers can pick up everyday essentials much as they might go next door to borrow sugar, without paying for transport to a shopping centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s entering the market as slower growth pushes grocery chains such as\u00a0Shoprite<\/a>\u00a0into categories such as health, beauty and personal care, areas where Clicks has traditionally been strong.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, spending by lower-income consumers has proved resilient, Engelbrecht said. The township economy is estimated at about R900 billion annually, Clicks said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KwaMakhi is also seeking to tackle what Engelbrecht described as a global tendency for poorer consumers to pay more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou would think it should be the reverse,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clicks sees about 2,000 potential locations that its traditional format can\u2019t currently reach, even before considering areas where organised retail has yet to establish a presence.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KwaMakhi stores are typically 280 square meters to 350 square meters, compared with 550 to 1,500 square meters for Clicks shops, and don\u2019t include pharmacies or clinics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group plans to have 10 outlets by year-end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strategy reflects lessons from retailers\u2019 previous attempts to treat lower-income consumers as a single market, Engelbrecht said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KwaMakhi will adjust its merchandise to local demographics and preferences as it learns what sells in different communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 30% of the initial range is private label, potentially rising to 40%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike discount-heavy Clicks stores, KwaMakhi will use everyday low pricing, with smaller pack sizes aimed at customers who may not have cash for larger purchases.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Refill stations for products, including creams and other personal-care items, are planned to start around October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clicks has earmarked R30 million for an initial 10-store \u201cdiscovery phase\u201d through February.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Engelbrecht said front-shop stores can typically break even within a year, and profitability should improve when KwaMakhi starts using Clicks\u2019 distribution centres after a warehouse-system upgrade early next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, formal retailers need authorities to do more to ensure rivals play by the same rules, such as enforcing product standards, minimum-wage requirements and taxes, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Images of Kwamakhi<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Clicks is launching new retail stores to more directly compete with the likes of Shoprite and Boxer in South Africa’s R900 billion township economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":872465,"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":"2092991293622222993","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2188286275325105","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18112323674005446","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[6655,4268,26320,7520],"class_list":["post-872453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-boxer","tag-clicks","tag-kwamakhi","tag-shoprite"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872453","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\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872453"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":872480,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872453\/revisions\/872480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}