Shopping in South Africa
I found quite an interesting article this morning on the price of random shopping items from the 3 main grocery-type stores in South Africa: Checkers, Woolworths & Pick ‘n Pay. I say interesting, because the results were not quite what I expected, but in retrospect it all kinda made sense.
The shops
I might be the only one, but I’ve until recently viewed Checkers as my last port-of-call when it comes to grabbing a few quick groceries. I remember it being a dirty, lower-end store – similar to the 7-Eleven’s of old. But recently the store got a massive upgrade. It seems a memo was sent out to clean up their image and it’s worked. The branches have improved their image greatly and it’s now right up there with the above 3 mentioned stores.
Pick ‘n Pay is old faithful. It’s always been around, it’s always been cheaper than most and it’s branches are fairly similar when it comes to quality and service. Their business ethics and income model aside, the store has kept their reputation decent and recently their online presence has been drastically improved and it seems to be working very well for them.
Woolworths food stores have long had the image of being the “rich man’s grocery store”. Their prices always seem to be higher, with the justification of quality being their selling point. The store’s are always impeccably clean and the staff are generally very helpful and with more and more dedicated Woolworths Food stores popping up, they’re getting increasingly accessible. But you go there always expecting to pay a bit more than Checkers or Pick ‘n Pay. Or do you?
The reality
I found some very interesting trends in the supermarket comparison chart mentioned above. Note the prices of these day to day, non-food items:
| Item | Checkers | Woolworths | Pick ‘n Pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Handy Andy Cream 750ml | 11.99 | 11.95 | 11.99 |
| Skip Intelligent 2kg | 64.99 | 64.99 | 69.95 |
| Twinsaver Toilet Paper 10′s | 35.99 | 29.99 | 37.99 |
With toilet paper being the exception (in Woolworth’s favor by a good few rand), the prices are within a few cents of each other. Woolworth’s is not hugely more expensive as you might’ve expected. So you get the benefit of a spotlessly clean store and great service, without forking out extra for it.
However, note the price differences when it comes to fresh produce:
| Item | Checkers | Woolworths | Pick ‘n Pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apples Starking 1.5kg | 12.99 | 14.95 | 12.99 |
| Potatoes 2kg | 19.99 | 22.99 | 11.99 |
| Tomatoes 1kg | 9.99 | 11.99 | 9.89 |
Woolworths is consistently more expensive, in the case of the potatoes, by more than R10. But let’s face it, Woolworths is synonymous with quality and you certainly don’t want to skimp on quality when it comes to buying fresh produce. I find myself having to wade through mounds of somewhat sketchy naartjies in Pick ‘n Pay to find a few decent ones, whilst at Woolworths, I know I can grab hand-fulls without worrying about quality – I know it’s going to be great.
Personally, I don’t mind paying a few extra rands for Woolworths fruit & veg items because I know I’m getting (in most cases) hand picked, fresh fruit. I don’t want to have to dig in a box of fruit to find a few good ones. I don’t have the patience. For this peace of mind, I’ll pay the extra.
It’s really about personal choice, but I found it quite interesting that for random non-food related items, Woolworths is no more than a few cents more than other grocery stores. So if I can enjoy my shopping experience in a better, cleaner store for 10 cents more, then why not.
It is a decent report – I just think that the basket should be larger than just 24 random products