Abstract:

The Shoprite supermarket group in South Africa grew from eight suburban stores in Cape Town in 1979 to an international group of 634 stores in 2003, spread through 13 African countries. Most of the growth was by acquisition of failed and troubled competitors in the highly overtraded South African market. To digest, manage and turn around entities far larger than itself required skilful, resourceful and determined management and the contribution of selected professional consultants. This presentation highlights some of the tools used to identify market opportunities to consolidate the enlarged group and bring it to profitability as quickly as possible, and later, to split the group into separate brands to optimize market opportunity within consumer lifestyle groups.