The popularity of Checkers and Pick ‘n Pay has increased among online shoppers in many South African urban areas, where the two supermarkets offer well-established grocery delivery services Sixty60 and ASAP, respectively. One of the questions people often ask is whether Checkers is cheaper than Pick ‘n Pay. Based on our research, the answer to that question is yes, although there are exceptions.
Checkers has consistently beaten Pick ‘n Pay in Business Tech’s annual Price War survey since 2016. We have also been monitoring food prices at these supermarkets for the past few weeks to verify this. Due to Pick ‘n Pay’s relatively cheap No Name products, we assumed that it was the cheaper supermarket but we were wrong. When there are no special promotions, private label products are generally cheaper at Checkers, as can be seen in the table below, which compares today’s prices of some of the most commonly purchased products at these two supermarkets, as obtained from Sixty60 and ASAP. Only brands that are available at both supermarkets (with their normal, non-promotional prices) are shown.
Item | Checkers | Pick ‘n Pay |
Albany brown bread | R16.99 | R16.69 |
Albany white bread | R18.99 | R19.49 |
BB brown bread | R16.49 | R17.69 |
BB white bread | R18.49 | R18.99 |
2kg Tastic rice | R35.99 | R41.99 |
2kg Aunt Caroline rice | R34.99 | R42.99 |
400g Lucky Star pilchards | R26.99 | R26.99 |
Twinsaver 2ply toilet paper 9s | R79.99 | R89.99 |
Baby Soft 2ply toilet paper 9s | R89.99 | R96.99 |
400g Black Cat peanut butter | R41.99 | R41.99 |
400g Yum Yum peanut butter | R35.99 | R36.99 |
500g Stork 40% fat margarine | R34.99 | R34.99 |
2l Clover full cream milk | R32.99 | R35.99 |
750 Eskort French polony | R37.99 | R49.99 |
750g Eskort Chicken polony | R49.99 | R52.99 |
1kg Hullets white sugar | R24.99 | R25.99 |
1kg Selati white sugar | R24.99 | R27.99 |
1kg McCain Mixed Vegetables | R44.99 | R45.99 |
1kg Nature’s Garden mixed vegetables | R46.99 | R49.99 |
750ml Sunfoil Sunflower oil | R32.99 | R37.99 |
2kg Goldi IQF Mixed portions | R89.99 | R99.99 |
2.5kg White Star maize meal | R37.99 | R45.99 |
2.5kg Ace maize meal | R32.99 | R43.99 |
Freshpak Rooibos Teabags 40s | R29.99 | R32.99 |
2L Coca-Cola | R24.99 | R24.99 |
410g Koo Baked Beans in tomato sauce | R15.99 | R16.99 |
145g Doritos | R21.99 | R21.99 |
Total | R1001.73 | R1099.63 |
It is clear from the table which supermarket is cheaper than the other. All the product listed above are either the same price at both supermarkets, or cheaper at Checkers except Albany brown bread, which is 20 cents cheaper at Pick ‘n Pay.
Nonetheless, prices fluctuate all the time. It is therefore not recommended to base all your future grocery shopping decisions on our findings. In these tough economic times, it is always a good idea to check which supermarket has better specials before going shopping.
Pick n Pay is killing us, especeially today ????