The claws are out as the fight for market share in the pet industry heats up with Shoprite aiming to become the largest pet retailer by the end of the year, while Woolworths sees further consolidation in the sector.
Shoprite and Woolworths are betting heavily on new segments, including standalone pet stores, one of the fastest growing and highly competitive industries.
According to reports, the local pet food market size is estimated to reach $890m (R16bn) this year, and $1.69bn by 2030 — growing at a compound annual growth rate of 13.64% between 2025-2030. However, retailers not only sell food but accessories, grooming products and other veterinary recommended products.
Last year, Shoprite opened 42 Petshop Science stores, taking the total to 128. Shoprite Group CEO Pieter Engelbrecht said, of the adjacent businesses — non-grocery segments — the fastest growing is pet. “It’s easy to open and is not new for us, especially on general merchandise, we’ve been in that business a long time.
Actually, the only thing that’s new is the premium food, which we are not allowed to sell in the supermarket. And we now have 128 stores. I think before the end of the year, we will be the largest pet retailer
— Pieter Engelbrecht, Shoprite Group CEO
“Actually, the only thing that’s new is the premium food, which we are not allowed to sell in the supermarket. And we now have 128 stores. I think before the end of the year, we will be the largest pet retailer,” he said.
Sales for the six months to the December period jumped 56.9%.
With north of 15% market share, Woolworths is also aiming high in this lucrative market. CEO Roy Bagattini said the group’s pet business, Absolute Pets, is well established in the market, and there was “a lot of scope” to grow the business. “It continues to deliver ahead of expectations, accelerating our ambition to become the end-to-end pet care destination of choice.”
He said the pet market is fragmented with a lot of small independently owned stores and there’s an opportunity to structurally consolidate. “Over time we do see consolidation…It’s a more profitable segment. You know how people feel about pets, and the amount of money they spend on their pets, and typically, looking for the best they can find for their pets.
“It’s a great trend, not only in South Africa, but globally. We are the market leader in the pet category in South Africa, when you combine our Woolies Pet and the Absolute Pets offering in total we expect to continue that leadership position going forward. There’s a lot of opportunity here for us, and we are very optimistic about it.”
Woolworths has more than 170 Absolute Pets stores.
This week Shoprite and Woolworths said in their financial results for the six months to December that their non-grocery segments that include pet stores are growing at double digits.
Bagattini said the group’s Woolworths Ventures, which houses Absolute Pets, WEdit, small format clothing stores, coffee shops WCafe and liquor business W Cellar, is a “few billion rand business” and “we’re building up momentum”.
Woolworths Ventures opened 20 new stores and is set to open 50 stores annually.
Shoprite’s adjacent businesses include UNIQ clothing, Checkers Outdoor, Petshop Sciencesm, pharmacy Medirite and Little Me. It added 54 stores — 42 Petshop Science; eight UNIQ outlets (taking the total to 30); and four Checkers Outdoor, ending last year with 26.
Engelbrecht said Shoprite was also eyeing the outdoor industry. “I see a gap in the outdoor market. But one must not confuse that with outdoor apparel. We are looking at things like camping and braai facilities and that kind of thing. That’s more where Outdoor Warehouse playsand are almost the only player. I see an opportunity for us,” he said.
Another area of focus is pharmacies, with most of them having been inside Checkers stores. The retailer will roll out standalone Medirite pharmacies that will compete with Spar Pharmacy, DisChem and Clicks. “We believe there is space in the market. We have 140 pharmacy licences. The data we collect from Xtra savings helps us see what customers are buying.”
Sales from Shoprite’s non-grocery businesses were R873m in the six months to December 2024 from R343m in December 2023.
Engelbrecht said each of the adjacent segments will grow at different speeds, but it’s a long term investment. “While presently small in the group context, our expansion into these categories is meaningful in the universe of everyday purchases for our customers and important in terms of the role they play in our ecosystem which defines our roadmap for future growth,” he said.
Shoprite continued to widen the gap in the grocery segment with further market share gain. Its Checkers brand, which competes with Woolworths Food, grew sales by 13.6% to R47.6bn. Overall, Shoprite revenue in South Africa was +9.6% to R128.6bn. It recorded market share gains of R4.7bn, rounding off five years of consecutive gains.
Woolworths Food business reported revenue growth of 11% to R24.9bn while the clothing segment continues to suffer from the shortage of merchandise which hit earnings for the period. The fashion, beauty and home segment was marginally up at 1.8% to R7.6bn.
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