THE UNDERLYING DYNAMICS OF THE GROCERY RETAIL SEGMENT
As it tackles the aftermath of the looting and unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, the listed grocery retail sector is itself at an inflection point. All the country’s Big Five retailers have new chief executives in place, with Shoprite’s Pieter Engelbrecht the longest-serving leader since 2017.
These businesses are large, well-established and not easily turned around in a hurry. Running the rule over the players in what – by international, developed market terms – is not a highly competitive market, analysts still agree that South African grocery retail is sophisticated and highly efficient.
A lack of meaningful foreign competition has allowed for margins in certain market segments to remain extremely attractive, causing a “bunfight” over market share, rather than creating niches. So it was that old-school success stories like Game and Pick n Pay found their lunches eaten.
Game has become an object lesson in not changing with the times and has become
