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Shoprite pushes posh nosh in bid to win affluent customers
As SA slides into recession and households have less and less to spend, Shoprite is adopting an unlikely strategy: pushing upmarket. While the lower-income families that have long been its core customers cut back, the spending of wealthier classes remains undented by the downturn. The discount retailer’s new boss is driving hard into the upmarket, higher-margin niche dominated by Woolworths. Shoprite CEO Pieter Engelbrecht said affluent areas and customers were where he saw growth in the market. "A lot of those [wealthier] customers, 2-million of them, actually frequent our stores already, but not exclusively," he said. "Our job is to get a better share of their wallets when they are in our stores and then impress them so that they come back again." Shoprite is doubling its offering of the kind of high-end convenience foods Woolworths has built its reputation on — from gourmet lamb shanks and oxtail stew to teriyaki-and-ginger-basted pork ribs. Its range would reach about 500 produc...
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