Africa seems to be a beautiful case study of building an economy despite facing many obstacles. It is an extended continent having different countries with different economic conditions. Lately, African economies seem to be performing well—whether it’s South Africa, Botswana, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, or Zambia— all of these states are showing decent growth. Retail groceries and supermarkets have great potential to grow in the African region. In the past two decades, the grocery and retail industry saw a boom in Africa, and numerous retailers started entering the market with their grocery outlets.
The income of the African consumers grew significantly in the past decade, and a rather identifiable class started emerging. This boom added to the confidence of national as well as international retailers to bridge the gap in offering grocery products to African consumers. In this article, we will be ranking the biggest food and grocery retailers that revolutionised the African economy based on the customer experience, number of stores, and other factors.
ShopRite supermarket and grocer certainly is ranked as the best and top retail chain in the South African region. ShopRite, headquartered in Western Cape province, has over 40 million customers across Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands. The grocer has grown to more than 3,000 retail outlets in the continent and is not ceasing its expansion any time soon. The grocer offers amazing products at reasonable prices to consumers, and they find everything they need at ShopRite outlets. The retailer operates various fast food stores, furniture outlets and essential home decor shops in the country. The retailer started investing in local distribution centres to supply the bulk of products to more consumers. These measures cut costs and improve customer service. Last year, ShopRite witnessed tremendous growth and its sale of merchandise increased by 10% to 91.1 billion rands (about 5.9 billion U.S. dollars) compared with the same time in 2020. The retailer also offers online grocery services to its valuable consumers.
2. Pick N Pay Group
The Pick n Pay Group is ranked as the second-largest retailer in the South African region. The retailer also owns above 2,000 retail outlets in the continent and is one of the go-to retail spots for African consumers. Pick n Pay operates under three brands – Pick n Pay, Boxer and TM Supermarkets, to offer a variety of products, including grocery, alcohol and household products. Pick n Pay also owns a 49% share of TM Supermarkets, which is the Zimbabwean supermarket chain. The retailer generated revenue of R93.0 billion and enjoyed a net income worth R967.1 million in 2021, as per the Wikiwand report. Pick N Pay is also equipped with a state-of-the-art e-commerce store to provide digital grocery services to its shoppers.
3. OneCart
OneCart is an on-demand grocery and pharmacy delivery firm that launched its delivery services in 2018. The digital grocer operates in over 4 regions and delivers to 40 locations across South Africa. OneCart plans to further expand its offerings by next year. The e-grocer was nominated and won MEA Markets Magazine’s “MEA Business Awards 2019” award for Best Premier Grocery Delivery Service in South Africa. It was also ranked as one of the South African top 10 startups by the Knife Capital Grindstone Programme. The digital platform got nominated for the “Most Innovative Companies Awards” awards in 2020. Onecart wishes to be the most consumer-revolving online grocer in South Africa and emerging markets. The platform has collaborated with numerous grocers and retailers to offer digital delivery in the region.
4. SPAR South Africa
4. Zulzi
Upshot
While the retail and grocery sector still has a lot to accomplish in Africa, the recent growth has been applaudable. During the COVID-19 restrictions, the economy saw extraordinary growth in online sales and many startups began serving the economy. The retailer and grocers need to jointly work together to supply food to underserved areas of Africa and collectively try to eradicate poverty and food shortage. The government needs to establish legal and financial right-securing ecosystems to help international firms enter and serve the market.
