Pick n Pay's Boxer subsidiary, which will list on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) before the end of 2024, has an ambitious plan to double its turnover within five years.
In the year to February, it reported revenue of R37,4 billion.
This year (FY25), it will achieve growth of 10-12 percent, which takes that number to R42 billion. It is this number which the group credibly sees doubling by 2030.
Put another way, by that time Boxer will be bigger (by turnover) than Pick n Pay is today (±R75 billion). Inflation will drive some of this, but the retailer sees "mid-teens growth" annually over the medium term.
There will be two core drivers of this target: Maintaining strong like-for-like turnover growth, and an aggressive expansion of its store footprint.
The target on the former is 5 percent to 7 percent a year, a number it is achieving currently.
It reported growth from same-stores of 7,7 percent in the first half of 2025 (March to August), which (coincidentally) is exactly the same as its average run-rate achieved across the 2022, 2023 and 2024 financial years.
Considering that like-for-like growth across Shoprite Group's supermarkets in South Africa (that's Checkers, Shoprite and Usave) in the last year was 6,3 percent.
Usave is the fastest growing across that group's three banners (followed by Checkers).
Boxer calls itself a 'soft discounter' in that it isn't quite as basic as a Usave outlet (a hard discounter, offering the 'bare essentials' of a basket).
Boxer stores have a wider offering, including fresh, bakery and butchery counters, but its range of products and categories will be narrower than a typical supermarket (think Pick n Pay, Spar or Checkers ... not the fancy FreshX format stores). Boxer contends that it holds 68 percent share of the grocery discount market in the formal retail sector in the country.
It is targeting a medium term "all in" trading margin of 5 percent, which is achievable considering it is already at the 5,6 percent level. - Moneyweb
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By comparison, Shoprite's 'Supermarkets RSA' operations have a margin of 6,2 percent, which is dragged lower by operations in other African markets, its furniture unit (which it is selling) as well as other operating segments.
At the end of August, Boxer had 489 stores, nine of which are located in Eswatini. This is a net increase of 12 on the number of stores it had at the end of February (it shut one Boxer Build store).
The group says its "core area of presence is in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape" but it has steadily expanded its presence across South Africa and into Eswatini. Moneyweb
