South Africans want more fresh but convenient foods
Shoprite now sells as much convenience food in a day as it did in a month a year ago, said Arno Abeln, manager of the fresh produce division of the group.
According to the market research company Euromonitor, Shoprite was number three in the market at 9% for preferred meals behind Woolworths(36%) and Pick n Pay(18%).
Euromonitor’s latest figures shows sales in this category increased by 8% to R3.7 billion in 2016 and they expect it to grow even more. Susie Squire, group head of communication at Woolworths, said people were increasingly asking for food that was easy to prepare. “But we’re also seeing an increase in the demand for healthy food,” she said.
Pieter Engelbrecht, chief executive of Shoprite, said a greater focus on “fresh convenience” was one of the big changes they made over the past year, and which they planned to build on. “Fresh is the future,” said Abeln.
1 ZAR = 0.0771398 USD
source: city-press.news24.com
