FACT CHECK: AT SHOPRITE, IT’S LOWER PRICES YOU CAN’T TRUST

BrandPower Magazine 03/09/2019Last Updated: 28/09/2019

3 minutes read

Shoprite prides itself as the best retail chain store that provides a wide variety of products at the ‘best prices ever’. While it may be true that they have a wide variety of foreign and local groceries and household items, BRANDPOWER can confirm the claim of providing best prices always, is a big lie!

While Shoprite has largely reintroduced and has sustained the super-store retail shopping experience across several cities in Nigeria, BRANDPOWER can reveal that it is doing so at phenomenal profits. For starters, Shoprite is reportedly creaming off a whopping 40% margin from all goods received from distributors and manufacturers in Nigeria. This forces a good number of the affected organisations to reduce their offer prices of their products to Shoprite in order to stay competitive. But even at that, most of the goods are still more expensive than what obtains in the open market or neighborhood shops.

So unless, you wish to enjoy the well laid-out ambience of the Shoprite around you, it is high time you knew that most of the prices of goods at Shoprite are more expensive than your neighborhood store or the open markets. However, if you want to save money at this very trying time, you know what to do. See table for comparison below to be sure.

Shoprite started operations in Nigeria in December 2005 when it opened its first outlet at the Palms Shopping Centre along Lekki expressway and today it is regarded as the place to shop in Lagos and other major cities in Nigeria where they have their foot-print.

There are about 25 Shoprite outlets currently in Nigeria; with the widest range of local and international brands and a world-class shopping experience, it is no wonder that Shoprite is Nigeria’s favorite Supermarket. Shoprite lays claim to offering variety of food products, household goods, and small appliances at “lowest possible prices, always”

On its website, fliers and other advertising products, the store likes to underline low, lower or lowest prices as its unique selling point, but these are not exactly true. Checks in local market showed that many goods are actually cheaper in those markets than in Shoprite.

The Shoprite Group of Companies is Africa‘s largest food retailer. It operates 2,843 outlets in 14 countries across Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands. The company’s headquarters is in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Shoprite Holdings Limited is a public company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with secondary listings on both the Namibian and Zambian Stock Exchanges.

As of 2018, the Shoprite Group employed over 147, 478 people, adding 3,676 additional jobs in the reporting period. It previously reported that 23,500 of the total staff complement worked outside South Africa.

The Shoprite Group of companies was established in 1979. In 1990 Shoprite opened in Namibia. In 1991, it acquired the national Checkers chain. In 1995 the first store in Lusaka, Zambia was opened. That same year the company acquired distributor Sentra, allowing the company to expand into franchising.

So don’t believe the hype. Shoprite prices are presently not the lowest in town. Indeed, on some products, they are actually quite steep as the table below has revealed. BRANDPOWER looks forward to Shoprite reviewing its pricing policy to truly deliver its promise of ‘lower prices you can trust, always to its teeming Nigerian customers.

See table for comparison below:

ITEMS

SHOPRITE PRICE

OPEN MARKET

CLOSE UP TOOTHPASTE 140G

N319

N250

PREMIER BAR SOAP – BIG

N169

N150

MILO REFILL PACK 1KG/500G

N1,869/1,009