Shoprite – providing best value merchandise

256 outlets in 17 countries across Africa, the Indian Ocean Islands and southern Asia.
The company’s headquarters are in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
Shoprite Holdings Ltd is a public company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with secondary listings on both the Namibian and Zambian Stock Exchanges.
Its ownership therefore lies in the hands of almost 5 000 shareholders.
Shoprite continues its implementation of a strategic expansion programme to maintain its position as the leading food retailer on the continent.
The Shoprite Group has a broad customer base consisting of about 10 million people.
The various shop formats within the group cater for all income groups with the Checkers, Checkers Hyper and Home shops focusing on the higher income groups and Shoprite and OK Furniture focusing on the broad middle to lower market.
The latest format introduced by the Group, Shoprite Usave, focuses on the lower end of the market.
The primary business of the Shoprite Group of companies is food retailing to consumers of all income levels.
Their management’s goal is to provide all communities in Africa with food and household items in a first-world shopping environment, with the lowest prices on offer.
Shoprite seeks to nurture stable economies and the social upliftment of people.
The group enjoys a reputation for offering best value merchandise, which consumers can trust. This has been sustained by independent market research companies and price surveys conducted by consumer groups and the media regularly to confirm that the group remains the price leader in its field.
Through the years, supermarkets in the Shoprite stable have proved to be firm favourites with many consumers.
The Shoprite Group of companies started in 1979; with the purchase of a chain of eight Cape-based supermarkets for R1 million and the next 26 years were marked by various acquisitions and innovative expansion strategies that brought it to the R29,8 billion business it is today.
In 1983, the group opened its first branch outside the Western Cape, in Hartswater in the Northern Cape.
At the end of that year, Shoprite opened its 21st outlet in Worcester and celebrated an increase in turnover of almost 600 percent over the four years of its existence.
A number of Shoprite shops were opened thereafter and in 2000, the group opened its first supermarkets in Zimbabwe and Uganda.
The Corporate Research Foundation selected Shoprite Holdings as one of South Africa’s most promising companies.
The group was the only retailer to achieve this distinction.
In November 2000, the company was identified by Financial Mail and Human Capital Corporation (Deloitte and Touche) as one of the best companies to work for.
During the same year, the Sunday Times Business Times ranked Shoprite Holdings as number 51 in its listing of the top 100 companies over the previous five years.
In 2001, the first of seven supermarkets were opened in Egypt, taking Shoprite into the North African market and thereafter started operations in Malawi and Lesotho.
F and T Finance Week also measured the growth ratios of top companies and Shoprite was the top performer on earnings per share over 10 years.
October 2002 saw the acquisition of the French-owned Champion supermarket grouping Madagascar in an agreement that enabled Shoprite to take control of five supermarkets now trading under the Shoprite banner.
The 2002 Markinor-Sunday Times Top Brands Survey scored Shoprite Checkers in fourth place in the most loved everyday South African brand category and fifth place in the top 10 most admired companies category.
The Checkers brand shared the first place on a brand relationship score in the Grocery Store Sector, Shoprite was ranked second, Shoprite Checkers third and the OK brand took fourth place.
The November 2002 opening of the group’s first outlet in Mauritius – the first Shoprite Hyper beyond South African borders – made group history by achieving the highest turnover ever recorded for a single opening day of trade.
Shoprite attained a vast number of milestones following the years and started wholesale operations in India, acquired both Foodworld, with 13 stores and Computicket among other achievements.
The year 2008 saw the Shoprite Group being added to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s top 40 index of blue chips, while the Shoprite brand was voted South Africa’s number one supermarket in the annual Ipsos Markinor Top Brands business to consumer survey.
Furthermore, Shoprite was named the leading retailer in Africa and the Middle East out of the region’s 30 best grocery businesses in a report by Planet Retail titled: Africa and Middle East Rankings all set to make a difference.
Today, the Shoprite Group trades with 984 corporate and 256 franchise outlets in 17 countries across Africa, bringing the total number of stores in the group to 1 240.
Shoprite Zimbabwe, located at Bulawayo Centre offers a conducive shopping environment, wide aisles and the latest technology at their till points.
They offer a wide range of groceries, perishables, non-foods, wines and beer, bakery, fruit and vegetables, butchery and delicatessen.