Shoprite's tills flowing over

RISING confidence and lower interest rates have helped consumers over the past six months and allowed retailers such as South Africa's biggest grocer, Shoprite, to get more customers.

The group said yesterday that its first-half turnover had increased by 9.5% to R36.3-billion.

"These results are somewhat better than last year's, but more or less in line with expectations. The previous year was a 53-week reporting period, whereas this year we're dealing with a 52-week period, so the figures are coming off a higher base," a retail analyst said.

"The combination of interest rate cuts and a slight revival in consumer confidence, along with wage increases across some sectors, has allowed consumers to spend," he said.

Shoprite said that in December sales grew 11.9%.

Last year, local retailers were confident that they would have a better festive season than in 2009.

According to a survey of festive season retail trends by the Bureau for Economic Research and Ernst & Young, released in November, most retailers reported higher sales in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Shoprite said sales at its supermarkets in South Africa increased by 8.4%, and by 3.2% on a like-for-like basis but, because of the weakening of most currencies against the rand, turnover of the group's non-South African supermarkets in rand terms increased by only 3%.

Shoprite's African operations include outlets in Angola, Mozambique, Nigeria and Zambia.

This article was originally posted on Sustainable Development Africa Platform

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