Two South African market analysts have called Shoprite, the owner of Checkers, the best grocery retailer in the world. They pointed to its profit margins and the growth of its Sixty60 delivery service.
PrimeXBT VIP client manager Kearabilwe Nonyana and Simon Brown of Just One Lap shared their views on Business Day TV, MyBroadband reported.
“They have a really good value proposition across three income segments (Usave, Shoprite, Checkers), and they are just a world-class retailer,” Nonyana said. “I might say they are the best retailer in the world right now.”
Shoprite released its annual results for the 52 weeks ended 28 June 2026 on 1 September 2026. Revenue rose 7.1% to R274.750 billion, up from R256.588 billion the year before.
Operating profit grew 6.0% to R15.967 billion. After-tax profit rose 6.2% to R7.930 billion.
According to MyBroadband’s calculations, this gives an operating profit margin of 5.81% and a net profit margin of 2.89%. These figures include losses from discontinued operations and are not adjusted for hyperinflation in Ghana and Angola.
Brown said any supermarket group in the world with more than 1,000 stores usually has an operating margin of about 3%, and 3.5% at most. “They are 2× to 3× the median. They are absolutely the best,” he said.
He said Shoprite protects its margins by focusing on low prices and looking after shoppers. He said this was the approach Raymond Ackerman taught at Pick n Pay.
“I can tell you where I live in Rosebank, there are queues at Checkers whenever I go, maybe a bit at Woolies, while Pick n Pay and Spar are absolutely struggling,” Brown said.
He gave the example of Shoprite’s five-rand lunch, which is aimed at blue-collar workers. “Everybody knows you can’t make that lunch for five rand. The worker knows this, and it builds that trust and loyalty,” he said.
Brown also said the group’s large size lets it run very efficiently. He said it can press suppliers to give up some of their margin, so that savings can be passed on to shoppers.
Nonyana said Shoprite’s strength comes from new ideas. He pointed to how it controls delivery costs to make Sixty60 work, and to its move into financial services.
Sixty60 offers low-cost, same-day delivery of groceries and household goods within a 60-minute time slot. In a trading update for the four months ended October 2026, Shoprite said Sixty60 sales grew by 33.4%.
The same update showed group sales growth of 6.4% compared with a year earlier. Its South African supermarkets grew sales by 7.1%, while supermarkets outside the country grew by 7.0%.
Shoprite said its internal selling price inflation was 0.7% for the four months. It also said NielsenIQ data showed its sales growth beat the market average by 5.3 percentage points from July to September 2026.
Brown said the share was probably fairly valued at the moment. He said the business does not get hit as hard in tough times “because we need to eat.”
Source: this article is based on reporting by MyBroadband. Image: MyBroadband. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Business desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Anelisa Nkuna covers business and money news for Tzaneen Voice. Anelisa reports on the rand, fuel prices, interest rates, jobs, Eskom, Transnet, farming and company results. The aim is simple: explain what the numbers mean for household budgets, small businesses and workers in South Africa.