The supermarket giant is muscling in on the higher end of the retail market, with Checkers increasing market share at the expense of its competitors.
Shoprite may have found the right formula to beat Pick n Pay and Woolworths at their own game, with strong growth at its upmarket Checkers chain leading to a rise in first-half sales. That more than made up for lost alcohol sales and a tepid performance from its operations outside of South Africa.
The supermarket giant is intensifying its focus on its home market as it retreats from its “Supermarkets Non-RSA” business. It closed the last of its Kenyan stores in February and is awaiting the approval of Nigeria’s competition authorities so it can conclude the sale of its operations in that country. Apart from the impact of Covid-19 restrictions on trading and distribution across the continent, extreme foreign exchange movements have provided further headwinds.
It partly attributed solid sales growth over the 26 weeks to 27 December to 22 months of uninterrupted market share gains for its “Supermarkets RSA” business, which includes the Shoprite, Checkers and Usave chains. It was able to gather intel on 17 million customers after extending its Xtra Savings Rewards.
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