South Africa’s retail giant Shoprite Holdings is making another major shift in its African strategy — pulling out of Ghana and Malawi to concentrate resources on its home market.
A Strategic Retreat from West and Southern Africa
In Ghana, Shoprite has accepted a binding offer (as of June 2025) to sell off its operations, which include seven retail stores and one warehouse. The deal has moved the Ghanaian business into “discontinued operations” on Shoprite’s books, and the sale is considered highly probable.
Meanwhile, in Malawi, the company signed an agreement on June 6, 2025 to dispose of five stores, subject to regulatory approval by the Competition and Fair Trading Commission and the Reserve Bank of Malawi.
These exits follow a familiar pattern — in recent years, Shoprite has already left Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, and other markets.
Why Shoprite Is Exiting
While Shoprite has long prided itself on being Africa’s largest supermarket chain, its experiences in several markets outside South Africa have been challenging.
The main issues include:
- Currency volatility that eats into margins
- Double-digit inflation in some economies
- High import duties on goods
- Dollar-based rental agreements that strain profitability
These factors have made certain operations too costly to sustain, especially when compared to the higher returns achievable in South Africa.
South Africa Remains the Stronghold
Shoprite’s exit from Ghana and Malawi is not a sign of weakness everywhere — in fact, the opposite is true for its home base.
The company expects:
- 9.4% to 19.4% growth in headline earnings per share for the year ending June 29, 2025
- 8.9% rise in sales from continuing operations, bringing revenue to roughly R252.7 billion (~$14 billion)
Shoprite is also aggressively expanding domestically, opening new outlets and diversifying into related retail categories.
