Woolworths Food has a new enemy with deep pockets and a brilliant offering

Checkers Sixty60 has shown strong growth over the last year and has become Woolworths Food’s biggest competitor.

Woolworths Food is the leader in South Africa’s luxury food market, and Checkers, Pick n Pay, and Spar have been unable to match its brick-and-mortar offering.

The food retailer has built a specialised cold-chain and private-label ecosystem over decades, creating a unique offering for its clients.

It is difficult to replicate as Woolworths controls the product development, cold supply chain, and proprietary farm-to-shelf specifications.

This unique offering, Casparus Treurnicht, a portfolio manager at Gryphon Asset Management, said, has created a loyal customer base.

In 2024, Treurnicht said that Woolworths Food’s offering is so sticky among its premium demographic that it was difficult for traditional grocers to crack into this market.

However, the rise of e-commerce in South Africa has changed the situation, as many people in the premium demographic now shop online.

A 2025 report by World Wide Worx showed that South Africa’s online retail market has accelerated over the past few years.

E-commerce in South Africa is on a rapid growth trajectory, transforming how consumers shop and how businesses operate.

E-commerce accounted for less than 1% of total national retail sales in its early stages of development. By 2023, that share had increased to 6%.

Growth accelerated in 2024, when online retail expanded by 35% to an estimated R96 billion, accounting for 8% of total retail sales.

By the end of 2025, online sales exceeded R130 billion and moved close to 10% of the national retail market.

One of the fastest-growing e-commerce segments in South Africa is groceries, and this is the new battleground for Woolworths Food, Checkers, Pick n Pay, and Spar.

Sixty60 growing faster than Woolworths Food

Shoprite’s reviewed results for the 52 weeks ended 28 June 2026 shed light on the growth of Checkers Sixty60.

Sixty60 operated from 976 stores across South Africa, increasing sales to R25.5 billion for the reporting period. This was up from R18.9 billion over the previous period.

In rand terms, this equated to an additional R6.6 billion in Sixty60 platform sales over the prior period.

Woolworths Food, in comparison, generated R26.641 billion in revenue over the 26 weeks to 28 Dec 2025. This translates into approximately R53 billion in annual sales.

However, this only tells part of the story. Woolworths Food’s revenue grew at 6.73% over the last twelve months, while Sixty60 grew at 34.5%.

That means that Checkers and Shoprite’s e-commerce service is rapidly catching up to Woolworths Food in sales volumes.

Woolworths Food’s e-commerce service, Woolies Dash, has also performed well. Revenue grew by 23.0%, and the online channel now contributes 7.2% to SA Food sales.

However, it does not come close to Sixty60. It represents 11.1% of Shoprite’s Supermarket RSA sales, which is a much larger base than Woolworths Food.

Research by World Wide Worx said that Checkers Sixty60 is in a class of its own when it comes to online grocery shopping.

The Shoprite-owned on-demand delivery service has a substantial lead over Pick n Pay asap! and Woolies Dash.

World Wide Worx CEO Arthur Goldstuck said that Pick n Pay asap! and Woolies Dash together don’t match up to Sixty60.

Goldstuck’s research showed that Checkers Sixty60 has built a powerful lead over its competitors due to its strategy and timing.