The internationalisation of supermarkets and the nature of competitive rivalry in retailing in southern Africa¹

1 This paper draws from research undertaken for UNU-WIDER by das Nair & Chisoro (2015, 2016, 2017), Ziba & Phiri (2017) and Chigumira et al. (2016).

Figures & data

Table 1. Number of supermarkets, ownership and % share in each country (formal chain stores only), 2016.

Botswana		South Africa		Zambia		Zimbabwe
South African supermarket chains
Shoprite (11) – SA	6%	Shoprite (1284) – SA	30%	Shoprite (26) – SA	34%	–	–
Pick n Pay (9) –SA	5%	Pick n Pay (1280) – SA	30%	Pick n Pay (12) – SA	16%	TM/Pick n Pay (55) – Zimbabwe/SA	30%
Food Lovers’ Market (1) – SA	1%	Food Lovers’ Market (100+) – SA	2%	Food Lovers’ Market (2) – SA	3%	Food Lovers’ Market (5) – SA	3%
Woolworths (22) – SA	11%	Woolworths (382) – SA	9%	Woolworths (2) – SA	3%
SPAR Group (28) – SA	14%	SPAR Group (890) – SA	21%
International supermarket chains
Game/Walmart (2) – USA	1%	Game and Cambridge/Walmart (240) – USA	6%	Game (2) – USA	3%	–
Saverite (Trident Eureka/Walmart) (17) – USA	9%			SPAR International (16) – Netherlands	21%	SPAR International (44) – Netherlands	24%
				Poundstretcher (3) – UK	4%
Regional/local supermarket chains
Choppies (83) – Botswana	42%	Choppies (68) – Botswana	2%	Choppies (10) – Botswana	13%	Choppies (31) – Botswana	17%
Shoppers (Sefalana) (23) – Botswana	12%			Melissa (4) – Zambia	5%	OK Zimbabwe (43) – Zimbabwe	23%
						Food World (6) – Zimbabwe	3%
196	100%	4244	100%	77	100%	184	100%

Source: Author’s compilation from annual reports and interviews. Note these only include grocery retail outlets of the chain. It does not include independent retailers. Shares are rounded off.

Figure 1. Proportion of urban population, 2000–15. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2014). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision.

Figure 2. GDP per capita (current US$), 2000–15. Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators.

Table 2. GDP growth rates, 2000–15.

	GDP growth rate (2000–15, average %)
Botswana	4.2
South Africa	3.1
Zambia	6.6
Zimbabwe	−0.9

Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators.

Figure 3. Shoprite and Pick n Pay’s SA and non-SA supermarket sales and profits, 2010–16. Source: Shoprite and Pick n Pay Annual Reports.

Note: The sales figures represented by bars are on the primary (left) axis, while the profit figures represented by lines are on the secondary (right) axis.

Figure 4. Trading margins of Shoprite and Pick n Pay, 2010–16. Source: Annual Reports.

Appendix 1. Retail landscape – value chains for fast-moving consumer goods. Source: Author’s illustration