Shoprite, Pick n Pay and Checkers are the top choices for purchasing groceries, while Mr Price and Woolworths are the most popular stores for buying clothing.

According to an African Bank Consumer Research Report on the low- and middle-income market, compiled by In On Africa and The Choice Architects,  Shoprite and Pick n Pay are the leading choices for groceries across subsegments, with Spar and Checkers in close 3rd of 4th place, depending on the subsegment.

Shoprite is the most popular store in the Youth (66%) and Adults (68%) segments.

However, Checkers is the most popular store in the Senior Category, beating its parent company at 55% compared to 54%.

The top five supermarket stores across the segments are listed below:

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(Dark Green: I often use this store; Light Green: I occasionally use this store; Yellow: I rarely use this store and wish I could use it more; Orange: I rarely use this store and don’t want to use it more; Red: I never use this store)

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In the Youth subsegments, Shoprite is the most popular store for General Youth (68%), while Pick n Pay and Shoprite are equally popular amongst student Youth (61%).

Shoprite is the most popular retailer in lower income Adult subsegments, including No Income Adults (74%), Entry-Level Adults (71%), and Low-Income Adults (69%).

However, Pick n Pay is the most popular retailer for Low Middle Adults (63%) and Middle Adults (65%).

The report added that preferred supermarkets across racial groups differ significantly.

African and Coloured consumers prefer Shoprite, scoring 72% and 61%, respectively.

Whereas Checkers is the preferred supermarket for white (57%) and Asian/Indian (56%) consumers.

However, the significant drivers for choice of supermarkets are the availability of produce (73%-75%), cleanliness (60%-68%) and location/proximity to home (55%-60%).

Below are the supermarket influences according to segments (click to enlarge):

Clothing 

Regarding clothing retailers, Mr Price is the top choice for all segments.

Mr Price scored 60% for Youth, 53% for Adults and 31% for Seniors.

The top five clothing stores across the segments are listed below (Same legend as the top five grocery stores):

 

 

In the Youth subsegments, Student Youth (55%) and General Youth (66%) favoured Mr Price.

Just like with grocery retailer studies, Middle-income Adults differed from other Adult subsegments and equally preferred Woolworths and Mr Price, with both scoring 49%.

No Income (47%), Entry Level (53%), Low (56%) and Low Middle (54%) Adults all preferred Mr Price.

Similarly to groceries, race shows some slight differences.

African (58%), Asian/Indian (38%) and Coloured (46%) consumers all preferred Mr Price.

White consumers only slightly favoured Pick n Pay Clothing over Mr Price, scoring 26% and 24%, respectively.

The two main drivers of choice regarding clothing, regardless of subsegment, were affordability and quality.

Below is the clothing retailer influences according to segments (click to enlarge):

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Read: Shopping price war 2023: Woolworths vs Checkers vs Pick n Pay vs Spar vs Food Lovers

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