Shoprite’s trading update shows how much harder lower-end consumers were hit by 2020’s pandemic and lockdown restrictions, with its lower-income Usave stores growing at a much slower pace than middle-income Checkers stores. 

The group, which owns Shoprite and Checkers, issued a voluntary trading update for the six months to December 27 that showed a 7.8% growth in SA led by the increase in food prices and opening of new stores. ..