{"id":876955,"date":"2026-10-03T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=876955"},"modified":"2026-10-02T16:50:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T14:50:29","slug":"south-africans-turning-away-from-shoprite-checkers-pick-n-pay-and-spar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/876955\/south-africans-turning-away-from-shoprite-checkers-pick-n-pay-and-spar\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africans turning away from Shoprite, Checkers, Pick n Pay, and Spar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Low-income South Africans are shifting from traditional retailers like Shoprite and Pick n Pay to local informal shops due to rising living costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the feedback from Mongezi Mtati, senior brand strategist at Rogerwilco and lead author of its 2026 Township Customer Experience Report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is absolutely true,\u201d said Mtati in an interview with HOT Business<\/a> when asked whether township consumers are increasingly shopping for survival rather than preference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the biggest change in the latest research is the number of pressures facing consumers, with poor service delivery adding to the financial strain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause there are so many pressures hitting the consumer from so many levels, service delivery and the lack thereof is also coming in as one of the pressures that the consumer is experiencing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report found that 79% of respondents experience power outages at least once a month, although Mtati said the figure masks significant differences between provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Gauteng, respondents reported experiencing power outages between four and 34 times a month. \u201cThis means that they have to consider what they buy, what they can store and how they can shop,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, households are increasingly buying canned food and other less perishable products that do not require refrigeration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mtati said this forms part of what the report calls the \u201ccost of coping\u201d \u2013 the additional financial and practical burden created by unreliable basic services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said it is difficult to put a precise rand value on this cost, but cited estimates showing that around 15% of income in low-income households can go towards transport, while about 69% can be spent on basic needs such as transport and electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This leaves households with less money for other essentials and discretionary spending, further influencing what and where they buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mtati said low incomes are also failing to keep pace with inflation and rising living costs, putting further pressure on household budgets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How big retailers can improve customer loyalty in townships<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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This pressure is increasingly affecting loyalty to major retailers such as Shoprite, Checkers, Pick n Pay and Spar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey found that 50% of respondents had switched stores because prices became too high. However, he said price is not the only factor determining whether consumers remain loyal to a retailer or brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumers also remember companies that contribute to their communities, meaning they may continue supporting a business even when it is slightly more expensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople believe that brands want loyalty but don\u2019t extend the same loyalty that they expect from the customer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mtati added that consumers are looking for reasonable prices but are not necessarily prepared to sacrifice quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe switching stores and switching brands thing has to be thought around the quality, the value, the contribution, and how you show up in townships,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said brands can also build loyalty by supporting communities when service delivery fails, although consumers do not expect businesses to replace government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research found that 91% of respondents want brands to contribute when there are service delivery failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mtati said this could include practical contributions such as helping maintain schools, fixing sports fields or supporting other community facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings suggested that retailers operating in townships are therefore competing on more than price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumers are weighing affordability, product quality, reliability and the role brands play in their communities when deciding where to spend increasingly limited household income.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Low-income South Africans are shifting from traditional retailers like Shoprite and Pick n Pay to local informal shops due to rising living costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":841709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2106308540960776568","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2225017178318681","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18117782339047959","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26619,20435,853],"class_list":["post-876955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-opinion","tag-2026-township-customer-experience-report","tag-rogerwilco","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876955","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876955"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":876973,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876955\/revisions\/876973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}