Serving more affluent customers who prioritise convenience, quality and freshness.

1991
Checkers supermarket chain acquired

The Checkers brand is defined by convenience, quality and freshness. Checkers markets to affluent consumers in search of a world-class shopping experience by offering great value on a wide selection of groceries, as well as household and lifestyle products.

Brand Overview

The Group acquired a national supermarket chain, Checkers, in 1991. At the time, Checkers had 169 stores and 16 500 staff members across South Africa. In 2001, the Group decided to reposition the Checkers brand to compete within the middle-to-higher income market.

Today, Checkers boasts two store formats: supermarkets and large-format hyper stores.

Checkers received numerous customer awards, exemplifying the strength of the brand, including:

Have a look inside our flagship Checkers Hyper in Brackenfell:

Checkers supermarkets

 

With increasingly tight economic conditions, South Africa’s higher-income customers are seeking better value while still expecting a large range of the freshest produce and healthy food. 

The Group has made great strides with its Checkers brand by improving and extending its convenience ranges while aligning products with healthy eating and cleaner living. Stores are also being modernised where appropriate, by upgrading to a newer FreshX store concept, such as Sandton Hyper.

 

Checkers Hyper

Checkers Hyper stores are typically located in densely populated areas. It is a large-format, wider-range store with similar products to Checkers, catering for upper-income groups. 

There are over 30 stores that boast an extensive range of products ranging from a variety of fresh and frozen foods, household items, indoor and outdoor furniture, and clothing, to a large range of branded appliances and audiovisual products at the Group’s TechX departments.

Checkers Foods

Customer demands for Checkers supermarkets in their neighbourhoods inspired the newly launched, smaller format Checkers Foods.

The new format boasts an expanded fresh food offering with solution-based convenience ranges curated to meet specific customer needs, including lunch, braai, dinner or emergency purchases.

Added Services

Checkers stores offer various in-house service departments including bakeries, delis, fish shops, wine sections and meat markets. Other value-added services shoppers can expect include:

  • Money Market, where customers can purchase domestic air tickets, book bus tickets, buy electricity, do money transfers and more.

  • Computicket, where customers can buy tickets to various leisure and sporting events, as well as tickets for travel requirements.

  • MediRite pharmacies provide easily accessible and affordable healthcare services, allowing customers to collect their prescription medicine while doing their grocery shopping. Checkers have also partnered with Mr D Food and customers can now order medicine online and have it delivered to their doors. 

  • Checkers LiquorShop can be found adjacent to selected Checkers supermarkets and hyper stores, enabling shoppers to purchase a range of local and international beverages at affordable prices.

  • Virtual grocery vouchers can be bought online and are sent straight to the recipient’s cellphone. These vouchers can be redeemed at any Checkers or Checkers Hyper store.

Rewards Programme

 

The Checkers Xtra Savings Rewards Programme is helping millions of South Africans to save on their daily groceries. This rewards programme gives customers extra cash savings on more than 1 000 products. Discounts are clearly marked in-store and every saving is automatically reflected when shoppers swipe their Xtra Savings Rewards card.

“We are obsessed about our customers and giving them more ways to save. This is proof.”

– Neil Schreuder, Chief of Strategy and Innovation for the Shoprite Group

 

60-minute Grocery Delivery Service

In 2019, Checkers launched Sixty60, a revolutionary one-hour, on-demand grocery delivery service. It’s the first 60-minute grocery delivery service from a supermarket chain in South Africa, and the Group is proud of the brand’s innovation in response to its customers’ demand for hyper-convenience.

The Checkers Sixty60 one hour delivery service has already won various top tier innovation awards, including:

  • People’s Choice Award and the Best Enterprise Solution at the 2020 MTN Business App of the Year Awards 2020
  • BCX Digital Innovation Award in the Corporate category
  • Gold Loerie Award in the Service Design category
  • Gold awards for Tech Innovation and Business Unusual at the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) South Africa SMARTIES Awards 2020
  • One of Memeburn’s best apps of 2020
  • Stuff Magazine’s best shopping app of 2020
  • Three 2020/21 Marketing Achievement Awards

View the Sixty60 timeline here.