Staple food prices: Woolworths vs Checkers vs Pick n Pay
Wondering which is the most affordable place to shop between these three major South African retailers?
PriceCheck has been a trusted source of retail data intelligence in South Africa since 2006.
According to BusinessTech, the company has extensive data on product prices that date back several years.
Using this data, PriceCheck has created a fictional grocery basket of the 29 most commonly bought items in South Africa each month.
The basket contains household staples such as large eggs, sliced white bread, a whole chicken, coffee, maize meal, rice, margarine, and salt.
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Additionally, it includes Ouma rusks, Clover Ultra long-life milk, cooking oil, virgin olive and seed oil, jam, Rooibos tea, regular tea, baked beans, and coffee.
Other items in the selection are instant oats, tomato and onion mix, pilchards, tomato sauce, Bovril, potatoes, onions, sugar, peanut butter, snacks, bacon, and fish fingers.
This grocery basket is often used to compare how major South African retailers stack up in terms of pricing for these staples.
A recent comparison showed how Checkers, Pick n Pay, and Woolworths compete in terms of pricing.
Here are the results:
Pick n Pay ranked second with a basket price of R1,676, while Woolworths trailed in third at R2,097.
The research also showed that Woolworths' prices rose significantly more than Checkers and Pick n Pay, with a 25% increase between 2023 and 2025.
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Woolworths' price increase significantly outpaced inflation, while Checkers saw a 13% rise in the price of products in the basket.
In contrast, Pick n Pay's best price increase was just 7%, aligning more closely with inflation.
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