The cheapest retailer to buy groceries in SA
This retailer is even cheaper than Shoprite, Checkers, and Pick n Pay.
If you've been looking for cheaper alternatives for your grocery shopping, we might have you covered.
According to BusinessTech's grocery basket comparison, Food Lover's Market reigned supreme as the most affordable grocery retailer in South Africa.
The basket comparison looked at the online prices of nine staple foods and products in a typical middle-income grocery basket as of May 2025.
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The prices of these items were then compared across six major South African retailers.
Retailers included in this comparison were Shoprite, Checkers, Pick n Pay, Spar, Woolworths, and Food Lover's Market.
The following products were used to represent a typical middle-income grocery basket:
- 700g loaf of Albany Superior sliced white bread
- 2-litre sunflower oil (cheapest option)
- 2.5kg Iwisa maize meal
- 2.5kg Selati white sugar
- 2-litre milk (cheapest option)
- 2kg Tastic rice
- 2.5kg Snowflake cake flour
- 175g bar of Dettol herbal soap
- 9-pack of two-ply toilet paper (cheapest option)
BusinessTech did highlight that these items aren't necessarily the absolute cheapest version of each product, but they were specifically chosen for consistency in the comparison.
These items were also chosen for their recognisability among middle-class shoppers.
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For this comparison, retailers from Gauteng were used, and according to BusinessTech, prices could vary depending on the region (provinces or cities) and different franchises.
With that in mind, here is the full comparison for May 2025:
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