The release of Shoprite’s results is always highly anticipated by our analyst team here at Trade Intelligence – will the Big Red One continue to dominate? (Yes) Has the challenging consumer environment exposed any chinks in its armour? (No) And what innovation will it throw at us next? (More on that another time). Letting the numbers do the talking, Group turnover reached R252.7bn, making Shoprite the first of our majors to reach this substantial milestone, with R20.6bn more flowing through the tills during FY2025 compared to last year. Checkers stood out once again, with +13.8% growth, and Sixty60 reaching a gobsmacking 100 million deliveries, adding +26% new customers and proving its profitability with R18.9bn gross merchandise value. And then what else… (*checks notes*)... oh, just the fact that its marketing and media revenue has increased by +36.8% to R647m, nudging the Group’s gross margin along rather nicely. But for a closer look at many, many more of those figures, have a look at our handy summary here. Meanwhile, in other Shoprite news, we extend our congratulations to CEO Pieter Engelbrecht, who has been recognised as ‘Sakeleier van die Jaar’ (Business Leader of the Year) by Kaapstad Sakekamer and Die Burger at an event held last week.

Comment: We close off not with our own words, but those from the man of the moment himself: “A leader is a sum of its parts. I am the first to admit that the dedication, tenacity and resilience of Team Shoprite – SA’s largest private workforce – deserves a standing ovation.”

Hot on the heels of Shoprite’s results come Woolworths’ numbers, a mixed bag as our summary shows here. Starting with the good news: Food was up +11.0% to R52.4bn, and Woolies Dash +41.6% (with online sales making up 6.6% of total Food sales), demonstrating the increasing contribution of digital channels to the Food business. Its Fashion, Beauty and Home division saw modest +4.7% turnover growth, supported by Beauty at +14.7%, reaffirming Woolies as the beauty shopping destination in the Beloved Country. Moving onto the not-so-good news, in Australia, Country Road Group remained the weakest link, with turnover down -5.4% in AUS$. According to the Group, this was because of the significant restructure of CRG during the period to reconfigure its operating model and set it up as a standalone business following its split from David Jones. Looking ahead, the Group has completed the heavy work of its multi-year reset and says it is ready to deliver the full potential of its businesses heading into FY2026.

Comment: With food and beauty delivering consistent growth, Woolworths now faces the test of converting its Australian restructuring into long-term shareholder value.

Congratulations to Usave on the opening of its 500th store in Hopefield, Western Cape, an important milestone for the greater Shoprite Group as it extends the reach of its no-frills discounter format. Usave was launched 22 years ago, under the leadership of a certain Mnr Pieter Engelbrecht (yes, the same one), who at the time headed up Shoprite’s executive projects office and was also responsible for the introduction of Money Market counters, LiquorShop, and the acquisitions of Computicket and Transpharm. “This milestone signals more than just scale,” says Oom Piet. “It shows our intent to continue leading at the intersection of price, proximity and essential access.” Staying with no-frills low-cost formats, SPAR opened its first ‘new look’ SaveMor store in Limpopo. The revitalised SaveMor format forms part of SPAR’s broader retail strategy, with the banner serving price-sensitive shoppers, while boosting local economic growth. The plan is to continue expanding SaveMor’s footprint through more standalone stores in rural and township areas. And finally, Food Lover’s Market has just spent a cool R80m on its bold new shopping destination at Sandown Retail Crossing in the Mother City. The investment includes a 5,500m² Food Lover’s Market – with 14 departments including fresh produce and a premium butchery, a full-service seafood department, sushi, a juice bar, customer favourites like Smashed Burgers and even a new kitchenware zone, with top-quality cookware and utensils – all alongside a Market Liquors, VetsMart, and Seattle Coffee Co. in the rest of the centre. “Sandown is not just another store opening – it’s a blueprint for the future of Food Lover’s Market,” says Travis Coppin, CEO of Food Lover’s Market’s Retail Division. “It reflects our focus on sustainable operations, job creation, and delivering a customer experience like no other [...]”.

Comment: What a time to be a shopper.

We’ve got a lot to get through this week in our international section, so you over there… pay attention. Who’s been the fastest-growing retailer in Spain’s grocery sector over the last five years? No prizes for guessing it’s a German discounter, more specifically Aldi, which has seen a +60% increase in retail space since 2020, opening 168 new stores to its current total of 480. Competitor Lidl has opened slightly more stores over the last five years at around 180, although its growth is off a larger existing store network and hence comes at a lower growth rate. Hopping over the Pyrenees to France, over the four weeks to 10 August, independent retailers have dominated the French grocery market, increasing their market share while the likes of listed retailers Carrefour, Auchan and Casino have lost out. The independent retailers in question (Coopérative U, Intermarché, and E.Leclerc) operate as retailer cooperatives, a very common business model in France, and one which is rather similar to our voluntary buying groups in SA. Staying with a French retailer, but this time in Africa, Carrefour is opening its first store in the DRC, partnering with Hyper Psaro, a local, heavily diversified conglomerate that (among many other things) operates six supermarkets, which will be rebranded to Carrefour in time. The last international supermarket brand to do business in the DRC left in 2022 – a very red, South African business that starts with the letter S. And across the pond, Amazon is extending its same-day delivery to fresh groceries, not only pitting it directly against traditional grocers, but also allowing shoppers to order their fresh food together with a fancy new Instant Pot to cook it in.

Comment: If they’re doing it there, will they also start doing it here and give the new Sixty60 Hyper vans a run for their money?

Haleon, manufacturer of household medicine cabinet essentials such as Grand-Pa headache powders, Med-Lemon, Eno, Centrum, and Scott’s Emulsion, has announced that it will be investing half a billion rand into its Cape Town manufacturing facility in Epping. Already one of the biggest powder medicine manufacturing sites in the world, the added cash will increase its production capacity, improve technology and set the business up for a major drive into sub-Saharan African markets over the next two years. The investment will enable the business to strengthen its localisation strategy – it currently sources 80% of its input products domestically, with plans to increase this to 90% – as well as boost its already commendable sustainability practices through initiatives that include creating a biomass-based steam supply, additional solar installations, and reduced reliance on the grid. Here’s a fun fact (or not so fun for those who suffer from headaches): The Epping facility produces 1 billion sachets of Grand-Pa headache powder every year. In other words, South Africans use 15.8 sachets of Grand-Pa per person per annum.

Comment: Now there’s a thought to make our heads hurt just a bit.

It’s results season among our suppliers and manufacturers too, with RCL FOODS, Rainbow Chicken and Sea Harvest breaking down their numbers for us. We’ll go in reverse order, starting with Sea Harvest, which reported a strong financial performance for the six months ended June 2025, with HEPS up +91% and revenue increasing +34%. This was largely driven by that fish n chips staple, hake, which enjoyed a +15% increase in catch rates and +10% rise in price. Its dairy segment, Cape Harvest Foods (Ladismith Cheese, Mooivallei Suiwel and others) also performed well. While expecting continued strong demand for various species (presumably of fish) and dairy products in the second half of the year, the Group has warned that it is anticipating challenges in prawn catch volumes and the abalone market. Such is the motion of the ocean, unfortunately. Moving on to that other white meat, Rainbow Chicken reported a good year to the end of June, with turnover +9% and HEPS up a whopping +224.3% thanks to all the right moves in all the right places – volumes up, costs down, efficiencies being efficient and less avian flu and loadshedding to contend with. As for Rainbow’s former parent company RCL FOODS, the Group reported a “pleasing performance notwithstanding subdued market conditions and volume pressure across most categories”, achieving +1.8% revenue growth, and HEPS up +10%. Its results were primarily driven by the strong performance of its Baking and Groceries divisions, which managed to offset a decline in its Sugar business, forced to contend with unfavourable market conditions. Looking ahead, the company will continue to focus on volume growth, operational efficiency, and cost optimisation across the board and aims to grow its export market share.

We’ll keep this section of our newsletter short and sweet this week, as our inhouse economist burns the midnight oil to wrap up our monthly South African Economic Report. Subscribers will receive it in their inboxes early next week, but for a snapshot view of the latest key economic indicators, have a look at our one-page summary here.