With Stats SA announcing that inflation hit a 10-month high in July, and that annual inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages continues to rise, the harsh reality of South Africa’s spiralling food prices is hitting home. New consumer research reflects this situation, showing that shoppers are meticulously planning their shopping and are no longer loyal to a single store as they search for the best deals on food and grocery items.
This is according to the latest data coming out of Roots, South Africa’s longest running and most comprehensive independent local consumer research survey. It is conducted at community level, and surveys the behaviour of economically active South Africans.
Shopping patterns changing
Among the areas focused on this year was where consumers were spending their food and grocery money. All the major retailers experienced growth between the last Roots survey in 2022 and the 2025 edition, notably because consumers were spreading their grocery budgets across multiple stores.
But where some retailers enjoyed positive gains, others struggled to maintain their previous positions, indicating the beginning of major shifts in the local retail landscape.
“On average, South Africans did their big, monthly grocery shopping at four different stores compared to only one or two stores previously. They planned these shopping trips much more than before. In 2022, 10% of shoppers bought on impulse. Today that figure has dropped to 5%. Consumers were actively looking for specials and discounts, with as many as 69% using printed flyers delivered to their homes via local newspapers and post box drops to find the best deals,” says Lynne Krog, head of research at Spark Media.
Aside from print advertising, shoppers used online search engines to look for specials (44%), social media (38%) and via direct messaging (31%), the latter being driven by the recent upsurge in on-demand grocery delivery services. Around 40% of people picked up printed flyers instore to look for deals, while 42% looked for specials once in-store.
App-based shopping rapidly growing
The increase in the use of on-demand grocery delivery services or apps was significant: 37% of respondents said they’d used such a service in the past four weeks, putting grocery apps collectively at position #5 on the list of where consumers shopped. This was above Food Lovers Market, Woolworths, Boxer and Makro.
Checkers Sixty60 led the way with 23% usage, followed by PnP Asap (19%), Spar (8%) and Woolies Dash (5%).
Consumer spend varying at community level
Understanding exactly where consumers spent their money was no mean feat. These figures varied wildly between national averages and the drilled down detail offered at provincial and local community level.
The 2013 survey asked the question: ‘Where have you spent most of your grocery money in the past month?’ and revealed that PnP was the market leader (35%) followed by Shoprite (23%), Checkers (16%) and Spar (8%).
Since then, PnP, independent retailers and Shoprite have lost 26% share, which was picked up by Boxer and Spar (5%); Woolworths and Checkers Sixty60 (4%); and PnP Asap, Checkers, Makro and Food Lovers Market (2%).
The highest percentage of national food and grocery shoppers spent their grocery money at Shoprite (22%) followed by Checkers (17%, or 21% with Sixty60) and PnP (17%, or 19% with Asap).
“We’re seeing Shoprite in the lead here because these stores tend to be in densely populated areas where people can’t shop around as much. Checkers and PnP are right behind. But when you look at the data for this question in another way, a different picture emerges. When assessing in how many of the 107 areas surveyed a specific retailer netted the monthly food and grocery spend, Checkers came out way on top with 50 areas, followed by Shoprite at 28 areas and PnP 25 areas,” Krog explains.
Clear split at provincial level
The provincial data tells a different story again. In Gauteng, PnP (20 stores) attracts the largest percentage of monthly food and grocery spend compared to Checkers (17 stores) and Shoprite (8 stores).
However, in Cape Town (10 stores), Durban/Pietermaritzburg (13 stores) and the Garden Route (5 stores), Checkers is the outright winner.
This is compared to Shoprite and PnP with 7 stores and 2 stores respectively in Cape Town, and 4 stores and 1 store respectively in Durban/Pietermaritzburg. Neither Shoprite nor PnP rank at all in the Garden Route, while Spar doesn’t feature at all in any of these areas for monthly food and grocery spend.
Interestingly, Spar takes the lead in Gqeberha and East London, and in Lydenburg/Burgersfort.
In Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West and Free State, Shoprite is streaks ahead with 9 stores compared to Checkers (3 stores), PnP (2 stores) and Spar (1 store).
Beware the danger of averages (one size fits none)
Krog says this constantly fluctuating picture highlights the importance of retailers not using national averages to inform strategic business decisions. “Retailers should be wary of averages. The battle for dominance in this market starts at the community level. The greater number of communities you can ‘own’, based on servicing their distinctive needs, which vary significantly from one place to the next, the more your share is going to grow,” she says.
Krog cites an example of Fourways in Gauteng, an affluent area where one might expect Woolworths to be the preferred retailer. The data showed that 81% of consumers shopped at PnP in the past four weeks, followed by Checkers (73%). A total of 28% of respondents spent the majority of their monthly food and grocery budget at Checkers followed by PnP (24%) while the loyalty cards used the most were Checkers Xtra Savings and PnP Smart Shopper (both 80%).
“These shoppers were also actively looking for specials and discounts, planned their shopping and also used loyalty cards, which could surprise marketers with preconceived ideas of these consumers.
“Roots takes this community-level data even further, examining how many retailers these consumers shopped at and whether shopping was planned or impulsive, on weekends or weekdays, in-store or online. It even unpacks which mediums they used the most to inform their shopping across retail areas like tech, homeware, and clothes and shoes, which incidentally was print in home across all categories, except clothing and shoes,” Krog adds.
Food and grocery spend is a hotly contested area, as retailers fight for their piece of the consumer pie. High inflation, food prices, and electricity and property tariffs are squeezing shoppers’ wallets, highlighting the importance once again of retailers providing quality products at a reasonable price that meet the distinct needs of their immediate community. Print advertising remains the most sought-after channel in bringing this information to local South Africa.
Note: Roots 8.1 was commissioned by Spark Media, undertaken by India-based Borderless Access and published by Caxton Media. It surveyed 25,000 adults aged 18+ representing 10.8 million adults and 4.5 million households in 107 communities. Interviews were conducted via an online panel with supplementary face-to-face interviews in communities where digital connection was limited.
