Shoprite Holdings has gained market share for the fifth consecutive year, achieving sales and revenue growth at twice the pace of the rest of the market, according to its integrated 2024 report.

The Group maintained a trading margin of 5.6% with sales having increased by 12% to R240.7 billion, an annual increase of R25.8 billion. Its core business, Supermarkets RSA which houses its trading brands Shoprite, Usave, Checkers, Checkers Hyper and LiquorShop, achieved sales growth of 12.3% and contributing 81% to Group sales off the back of a 4.5% annual increase in customer visits.

“We saw impressive growth at both ends of our targeted market segments,” commented CEO, Pieter Engelbrecht. “Checkers remains the fastest-growing premium grocer in the country for a third consecutive year, with sales growth this year of 12.3%. Online sales from our industry-leading on-demand delivery platform, Checkers Sixty60, grew by 58.1%; it is continuing to disrupt South Africa’s retail market as it expands beyond groceries to include general merchandise delivered by our new fleet of Checkers Hyper delivery vans.”

The Shoprite and Usave brands increased sales by 10.7%, expanding the Group’s reach into underserved communities through its low-cost Usave discount stores and Usave eKasi container stores.

“Despite these sales growth rates, we fell just short of our own internal targets for 2024. This speaks to the culture of our business: we set a very high bar and believe that we can always improve and always do better. Despite operating under markedly different circumstances to many of our global counterparts, Shoprite has continued to demonstrate global competitiveness with consistent market share growth and sector-leading execution which allows us to fulfil our customer promise. We are the largest SAP retail customer by number of transactions in the world and one of the top retailers globally in terms of the volume of product moved. Our performance this year demonstrates our ability to deliver under challenging conditions,” he said.

Across the Group, net 292 stores opened during the period including 63 new format specialist stores in adjacent categories as well as 73 Ok Franchise stores, bringing its total footprint to 3 639 stores across the ten countries it operates in.

Checkers Sixty60 is now available in 539 stores, an increase of 73 stores year-on-year. The omnichannel retailer also saw impressive growth in its Xtra Savings rewards programme with more than 31 million members and 2 500 swipes per minute. The Group also launched Xtra Savings Plus during the year, SA’s first grocery subscription plan.

With its 82 rooftop solar systems installed across 77 of its sites (73 in SA and four in Namibia with a capacity of 36 172 kW), the Group obtained 6.5% of its electricity from renewable sources (FY2023: 5.5%), surpassing its target. It consumed 125 567 MWh of renewable energy (FY2023: 103 234 MWh) which reduced its emissions by 123 684 tCO2 e (FY 2023: 106 141 tCO2 e).

Its Board declared a final dividend of 445 cents per share, resulting in a full-year dividend of 712 cents per share and representing a 7.4% year-on-year growth in dividend per share.

This article first appeared here: Shoprite Holdings gains market share for the 5th consecutive year – Property Wheel