Africa’s largest FMCG retailer, Shoprite is on the verge of exiting the Nigerian market after 15 years of partnership with the continent’s most populous country.
Shoprite have reportedly struggled in the Nigeria market since the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic which led to a temporal lockdown of businesses.
According to fin24, the South African based retailers said their operations in Nigeria did not reflect in their annual results and hence would discontinue it’s sales in the country.
They have already started a formal process to consider the potential sale of all or a majority of stakes in its supermarkets in Nigeria.
According to their 52 weeks trading statement released on Monday, customer visits declined for about 7.4%, while the average basket spending increased by 18.4%.
The statement further disclosed that:
“International supermarkets (excluding Nigeria) contributed 11.6% to group sales, and reported 1.4% decline in sales from 2018.
“South African operations contributed 78% of overall sales and saw 8.7% rise for the year”.
This surely would not be a pleasant news to most Nigerians who have gotten so addicted to the retailing outlet.
