Up and down: the changing price of groceries sees Spar prices drop

Monthly grocery basket price check pegs Woolies as cheapest for basic staples

03 April 2023 - 20:02
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The cost of a basic basket of staples tracked from January to March 2023 shows Spar prices have dropped.
The cost of a basic basket of staples tracked from January to March 2023 shows Spar prices have dropped.
Image: 123RF/ aquapictures

With the month-end grocery shop done, the monthly basket of staples price check has thrown out some interesting changes in the rating of South Africa's six big retailers. 

While Food Lover's again, as has consistently been the case since it was introduced to the tracking this year, came in cheapest, there were some other surprising changes.

From January to March, the same basket of products has risen in price by R10.33 at Food Lover's Market, while the same trolley at Spar has dropped by R28 — from R440.91 to R412.91.

The monthly tracking of a basket of staples is done by independent publication The Outlier, which uses data to create public service stories and visualisations.

At the end of every month they track the in-store prices of the same basket of goods across six major retailers. These are Shoprite, Checkers, Pick n Pay, Spar, Food Lover's and Woolworths.  

The standard trolley has: 

  • one 700g Albany Superior sliced white bread (or store brand);  
  • 2l store brand sunflower oil;  
  • 2.5kg Iwisa maize meal;  
  • 2.5kg Selati white sugar;  
  • one store-brand 2l milk;  
  • 2kg Tastic rice;  
  • 2.5kg Snowflake cake flour;  
  • one 175g bar of Dettol Herbal soap; and  
  • a nine-pack of two-ply Baby Soft toilet paper (or store brand).  

Where some brands weren’t available alternatives were used. 

Spar, which has generally ranked as the most expensive, came in as the second cheapest — a little more than R13 above Food Lover's. Checkers — which has generally been one of the top performers — came in as most expensive for the basics. 

While the basket at Food Lover's cost R399.70, the same haul at Checkers cost R15.46 more at R415.16. Woolworths, ranking as middle-of-the-road in price with Shoprite, proved the cheapest on the prices for a loaf of bread, a bar of soap, white sugar and flour. 

Last month The Outlier conducted a price comparison among the six retailers, looking at the cost of chicken breast fillets, boerewors, a tin of tuna and a can of Lucky Star pilchards.

Food Lover's Market again topped the list as the most affordable on protein options, while Woolworths was by far the most expensive. 

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