E-commerce growth lifts Shoprite shares as Sixty60 sales surge

Shoprite shares surged toward record highs on Wednesday after the retailer issued a strong full-year operational update, with rapid growth from its Checkers Sixty60 on-demand delivery platform once again outpacing the rest of the group. 

Shares in the retailer jumped 8.2% to R307.85 on the news.

For the 52 weeks ended 28 June 2026, Shoprite grew merchandise sales from continuing operations by 7.2% to R270.8 billion, adding R18.1 billion in new sales for the year. Sixty60 was the standout performer, with sales through the platform rising 34.5% to R25.5 billion, nearly five times faster than the group's core South African supermarket business, which grew 7.1% over the same period.

Shoprite said it expects headline earnings per share from continuing operations to come in between 1,498.4c and 1,566.6c, an increase of between 9.7% and 14.7% on the restated prior year. No share repurchases took place during the period. The group's full annual results are due for release on 1 September.

The update builds on momentum already visible at the half-year mark, when Sixty60 sales rose 34.6% to R11.9 billion, accounting for over a tenth of Supermarkets RSA sales at the time. Half-year headline earnings per share from continuing operations had increased 7.9% to 708.9 cents, with an interim dividend of 307 cents per share, itself up 7.7% on the prior year.

With almost 3,000 stores across South Africa, Shoprite has increasingly turned its physical retail footprint into fulfilment infrastructure for Sixty60, allowing the on-demand platform to scale rapidly without building out a separate delivery network from scratch. 

The performance points to a broader shift in South African grocery retail, with growth increasingly driven by a combination of scale, affordability, physical accessibility and digital convenience, rather than digital commerce simply displacing physical stores.

Investors and the wider retail industry will now be watching Shoprite's full results on 1 September to see how the strong sales performance and Sixty60's continued expansion translate into profitability, alongside further detail on margin pressures flagged earlier in the year, including the reclassification of Sixty60 delivery costs into cost of sales and rising utility and finance charges.

Compiled from reporting by TechCentral, Bizcommunity, TechCabal and FX Leaders.