Shoprite Group’s Checkers Sixty60 online shopping platform continues to grow an astounding rate, adding 63.1% year on year to sales in the six months ended 31 December 2023.

The retail giant said on Tuesday that Sixty60 has helped ensure that the group’s “uninterrupted market share gains” in its core South African supermarkets business has been extended to 58 months.

“Checkers and Checkers Hyper’s 13.7% sales increase is a result of unwavering execution of the brand’s clear value proposition, continued store upgrades, and advances in the areas of fresh, private label and on-demand execution by Checkers Sixty60, which, notwithstanding a base of considerable growth built up over a number of years, increased sales by a further 63.1% over the six months,” said Shoprite CEO Pieter Engelbrecht in notes accompanying the interim financial report.

While still impressive, the latest number represents a slight slowing in Sixty60’s growth, which in the year-ago six-month period notched up an increase in sales of 86.8%.

Checkers expanded the number of stores from which it makes Sixty60 deliveries from 394 to 505.

Shoprite said group inventories rose by 15.4% year on year to reach R29.3-billion in the latest reporting period, representing an inventory-to-sales ratio of 12.7% based on the last 12 months’ sales. This was in part due to “elevated level of sales growth, especially with regard to Checkers Sixty60, which utilises our in-store inventories”, as well as an expanded store footprint.

Reuters reported that Shoprite achieved a 7.6% rise in half-year profit, supported by a record Black Friday and festive season as cash-strapped shoppers and upmarket consumers went after food deals.

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The retailer, with more than 3 500 stores across Africa, said diluted headline earnings per share came in at 621.4c in the 26 weeks ended 31 December, from 577.5c a year earlier. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media