Shoprite Special operations
Something they’re calling an “operational update” from Shoprite, for the 52 weeks to 2 July, in which the Group reported that merchandise sales grew +16% to R215bn, while LiquorShop sales increased by +30.8%. Percentage wise, the core business, Supermarkets RSA, achieved sales growth of +17.8%, with like-store sales up +10.3%, and contributing 80.8% to Group sales. Checkers and Checkers Hyper were up +18.0%, while Shoprite and Usave up +15.6%. In rand terms, Non-SA sales increased by +16.4%, contributing 9.1% to Group sales. The Group added an impressive 340 net stores during the period for a total of 3,324 in all geographies. Like all retailers – all businesses, really – Shoprite is taking a hammering on energy-related costs. But it’s doing its level best not to pass these on to punters. “As such, the Group’s full-year gross margin will be lower than that reported last year,” it said.
Comment: Difficult to fault Shoprite, really, on the near-flawless execution of a sound growth strategy at scale.