On the drive to Shoprite's new distribution centre at Cilmor in Brackenfell, Cape Town, two Shoprite trucks are seen heading for Langa and Nyanga townships, two of the many emerging-market communities that form part of the group's largest market. But as the group's expansion in previously disadvantaged communities becomes saturated, industry pundits are asking; "Where can they go to from here?" And it seems that the answer may be ... Eastern Europe. Newly appointed Shoprite CEO Pieter Engelbrecht, who has been in the job for about seven months, said on Wednesday that the next phase of growth for the group might be acquisitions of small businesses in Eastern Europe. "We will always test the depth of the water with both feet. So we are not going to do a major acquisition and then put all our eggs into that basket, because if it fails then the company fails," he said. "But we get a lot of proposals all across the world from smaller, family-owned companies of about 20 or 30 stores and t...
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