CAPE TOWN - Shoprite was making sure that financially-pressed customers could afford to eat, even if they had just R5 in their pockets, the group said in a statement on Wednesday.
The company is very proud of the more than 1 000 products available in Shoprite stores for R5 or less.
The low-cost grocer further added that over 13 000 products are currently selling at lower prices than last year.
"We continue to keep prices as low as possible with our unwavering commitment to delivering the lowest prices on food and household essentials every day", the statement said.
For less than R5, customers are able to buy a range of bakery, deli, fruit, and veg as well as grocery products.
A chicken hotdog, a fried egg & tomato sandwich or soup & igwinya (vetkoek) are all available for under R5 at Shoprite delis.
Shoprite subsidises its 600g in-house bakery bread which costs just R4.99, the same price as in April 2016 when the retailer first started its bread subsidy.
Since then it has sold 110 million loaves of bread, subsidised to the tune of R67 million, while absorbing any input cost increases.
In the last year alone, the company has subsidised staple products at a cost of R190 million.
"The Shoprite Group does everything it can to make sure that increases in the VAT, petrol prices, and other escalating input costs are, wherever possible, not reflected in higher prices at the till."
The statement also said that over the past year the Group has saved customers over R2 billion that they would have paid had its grocery items kept up with inflation.
"With unemployment at a staggering 27.2 percent and economic growth expectations at barely more than 1 percent for 2018, it is clear that more and more consumers are experiencing severe financial difficulty, and food scarcity is a growing concern," the statement added.
- BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE