Published: November 13, 2026
Key Facts
- Shoprite is Africa's biggest retail chain by a wide margin, with merchandise sales of R270.8 billion ($16.15 billion) in its year to June 2026. That is more than the next two chains, SPAR and Pick n Pay, put together.
- South Africa's big four, Shoprite, SPAR, Pick n Pay and Woolworths, took $36.15 billion of the top 10's $40.46 billion in sales, a share of 89.4 percent.
- Nigeria, Africa's largest economy, has no chain in the top 10. Shoprite sold its Nigerian stores in 2021, and no Nigerian chain publishes audited sales at this scale.
- Kenya places three chains in the top 10, Naivas, Quickmart and Carrefour Kenya, with combined sales of $1.64 billion. That is just ahead of Morocco's biggest chain, Label'Vie, at $1.61 billion.
- Two famous names are missing for a reason, not by mistake. Massmart, owner of Makro and Game, has published no standalone sales figure since Walmart took it private in 2022. Marjane, Morocco's largest chain, publishes no revenue figure at all. Both gaps are explained in the Methodology.
| Rank | Chain | Home country | Annual sales (US$) | Sales in local currency | Year ended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shoprite | South Africa | $16.15bn | R270.8bn | 28 Jun 2026 |
| 2 | SPAR Group | South Africa | $7.89bn | R132.4bn | 26 Sep 2025 |
| 3 | Pick n Pay | South Africa | $7.17bn | R120.3bn | 1 Mar 2026 |
| 4 | Woolworths | South Africa | $4.94bn | R82.8bn | 28 Jun 2026 |
| 5 | Label'Vie (Carrefour Morocco) | Morocco | $1.61bn | MAD 15.87bn | 31 Dec 2025 |
| 6 | Naivas | Kenya | $0.88bn | KES 114.45bn | 30 Jun 2025 |
| 7 | Choppies | Botswana | $0.65bn | BWP 9.11bn | 30 Jun 2025 |
| 8 | Magasin Général | Tunisia | $0.40bn | TND 1.20bn | 31 Dec 2025 |
| 9 | Quickmart | Kenya | $0.39bn | KES 50.43bn | 31 Dec 2025 |
| 10 | Carrefour Kenya | Kenya | $0.38bn | KES 48.84bn | 31 Dec 2025 |
Sales are each chain's latest reported sale of merchandise or turnover, converted to dollars at 12 November 2026 rates. See Methodology for the full definitions, the exchange rates used, and the chains that were left out.
The gap at the top is the story of this ranking. Shoprite's $16.15 billion is more than double SPAR's $7.89 billion, and it is $1.08 billion more than SPAR and Pick n Pay earn combined. The top two chains together take 59.4 percent of the top 10's $40.46 billion. Below the big four, the scale falls off a cliff. Woolworths, in fourth place at $4.94 billion, earns three times as much as the fifth chain, Label'Vie, at $1.61 billion. South Africa is also the largest economy on the continent, and its retailers show the same concentration as its banks and its telecom operators.
1. Shoprite, South Africa, $16.15 billion
Shoprite is not just the biggest chain in Africa. It is the biggest by a distance that no rival can close soon. Merchandise sales rose 7.2 percent to R270.8 billion in the 52 weeks to 28 June 2026. The group runs 3,710 stores, including 573 OK Franchise outlets, across eight African countries. Its South African supermarkets alone took R228.7 billion, or 84.5 percent of group turnover. Checkers, its premium brand, passed R100 billion in sales in the year. Sixty60, its on-demand delivery service, grew 34.5 percent to R25.5 billion. The group employs 174,430 people and counted 1.3 billion customer visits in the year. Trading profit rose 8.4 percent to R16.2 billion. Shoprite left Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi and Kenya in recent years, and those operations are now classed as discontinued. What is left is a Southern African machine that sells more than the next two chains combined.
2. SPAR Group, South Africa, $7.89 billion
SPAR is the wholesaler behind the SPAR, SUPERSPAR, Kwikspar and SaveMor stores that dot South African towns. Its turnover of R132.4 billion is measured on continuing operations for the 52 weeks to 26 September 2025. The figure is wholesale turnover, money paid by independent retailers who buy from SPAR's distribution centres, so the value of goods sold in SPAR-branded shops is higher than the number in this table. The group ran 2,523 stores in Southern Africa and also operates in Ireland. The year was a clean-up year. SPAR sold its loss-making businesses in Switzerland and Poland, and the R5.08 billion loss it reported came from the cost of unwinding those operations, not from its shops. Net debt fell 40 percent to R5.4 billion. SPAR is 10.1 percent ahead of Pick n Pay in third place, a gap of $0.72 billion.
3. Pick n Pay, South Africa, $7.17 billion
Pick n Pay is in the middle of a turnaround, and the numbers show both halves of the story. Group turnover reached R120.3 billion in the 52 weeks to 1 March 2026, up 3.4 percent on a comparable 52-week basis. The growth came from Boxer, its discount chain, where turnover rose 12.3 percent to about R47.5 billion. The core Pick n Pay supermarkets shrank 1.6 percent as the group closed underperforming stores and converted some to Boxer. The group runs 2,188 stores: 992 company-owned Pick n Pay stores, 620 Pick n Pay franchise stores, and 576 Boxer stores. Trading profit was R1.69 billion, but the group still made a headline loss of R386 million. Pick n Pay's problem is not size. It is that its main brand is shrinking while its discount brand does the growing.
4. Woolworths, South Africa, $4.94 billion
Woolworths is the odd one out in the top four, because only part of it is a supermarket chain. Group turnover was R82.8 billion in the 52 weeks to 28 June 2026. Woolworths Food took R55.4 billion of turnover and concession sales, while Fashion, Beauty and Home took R16.1 billion and the Country Road group in Australia and New Zealand took A$1,067.2 million. Food is the engine of the group, and its food business alone, at $3.30 billion, would still rank fifth in Africa, ahead of Label'Vie. Profit before tax was R3.2 billion. Woolworths sells premium food to South Africa's middle class. The group declared a total dividend of 199 cents a share for the year.
5. Label'Vie (Carrefour Morocco), Morocco, $1.61 billion
Label'Vie is Morocco's biggest listed retailer and the only non-South African chain above $1 billion. It runs Carrefour hypermarkets and supermarkets, Carrefour Market, Atacadao cash-and-carry stores and Supeco discount stores across Morocco. Retail sales rose 13.7 percent to MAD 15.87 billion in 2025. Group revenue, at MAD 18.53 billion, is higher because it includes property development and petrol stations, so this ranking uses the retail sales figure. Net income rose 6.2 percent to MAD 594 million. The group opened 91 stores in 2024 and runs about 270 outlets. Label'Vie is also the reason Morocco, a country of 37 million people, has a bigger top chain than Kenya, a country of 58 million. The gap is small, though. Kenya's three chains in this top 10 earn $1.64 billion combined, just 2.4 percent more than Label'Vie alone.
6. Naivas, Kenya, $0.88 billion
Naivas is Kenya's biggest homegrown chain and the first non-South African, non-Moroccan name in this ranking. Revenue rose 21.6 percent to KES 114.45 billion in the year to 30 June 2025, and net profit jumped 43.4 percent to KES 2.45 billion. The chain ran 108 stores at the year end, up from 66 in 2020, and has since passed 110. Naivas was founded in 1990 by the late Peter Mukuha Kago and is now controlled by a consortium led by Mauritius-based IBL Group. In November 2025 it appointed Andreas von Paleske as chief executive, the first person from outside the founding family to run the business. Naivas earns 2.27 times as much as Quickmart, its nearest Kenyan rival. Its rise is the clearest sign that Kenya's formal grocery market is growing fast, with the top three Kenyan chains now holding about 60 percent of modern grocery sales.
7. Choppies, Botswana, $0.65 billion
Choppies is the biggest retailer in Botswana and the only chain in this top 10 that is based outside South Africa, Kenya, Morocco and Tunisia. Retail sales rose 14.7 percent to BWP 9.11 billion in the year to 30 June 2025, and group revenue was BWP 9.17 billion. Gross profit rose 16.8 percent to BWP 1.89 billion, but operating profit slipped 5.1 percent to BWP 318 million as costs rose faster than sales. The group opened 30 new stores in the year and trades in Botswana, Namibia and Zambia. It sold its Zimbabwean business in December 2024, and the figures here cover continuing operations only. Choppies shows that a chain built on small neighbourhood supermarkets can still make a continental top 10, even from a home market of about 2.5 million people.
8. Magasin Général, Tunisia, $0.40 billion
Magasin Général is one of Tunisia's two listed grocery chains, alongside Monoprix, and it is back in profit. Consolidated turnover passed TND 1.2 billion in 2025, up 9.4 percent, while the parent company's own turnover was TND 1.16 billion, up 11.5 percent. Net profit was TND 5.3 million, against a loss of TND 3.7 million in 2024. The chain was privatised in 2007 and says 96 percent of its products are Tunisian in origin. This is the closest call in the ranking. Magasin Général leads Quickmart in ninth place by only about $11 million, or 2.7 percent, and on the parent company's own turnover figure the two would swap places. The order shown here uses the consolidated figure, which is how every other group in this ranking is measured.
9. Quickmart, Kenya, $0.39 billion
Quickmart is Kenya's second-largest formal grocer and its fastest-growing one. Revenue reached KES 50.43 billion in the year to December 2025, up from KES 25.7 billion in 2021, a compound annual growth rate of 18.4 percent. Adjusted profit after tax was KES 1.7 billion. The chain runs 72 stores in 16 counties, and 35 of them trade around the clock. Quickmart was formed in 2020 from the merger of Quickmart and Tumaini, and it is backed by investment firm Adenia Partners. In October 2026 it opened a public share offer ahead of a planned listing on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, with a target of 125 stores and $1 billion in annual revenue within four years. If it hits that target, it will pass Naivas and become Kenya's biggest chain.
10. Carrefour Kenya, Kenya, $0.38 billion
Carrefour Kenya is the East African arm of the French brand, run under franchise by Dubai-based Majid Al Futtaim. Revenue reached KES 48.84 billion (AED 1.386 billion) in 2025, up from KES 42.95 billion in 2024. The chain added eight stores in the year to reach 34 outlets. Majid Al Futtaim entered Kenya in 2016 and says it has spent close to KES 15 billion building its Kenyan business. Carrefour Kenya is the third Kenyan chain in this top 10, which gives Kenya more entries than any country except South Africa. It also shows how close the bottom of this ranking is. OK Zimbabwe, the first chain to miss the cut, earned $245 million in its year to March 2025, only $131 million behind Carrefour Kenya.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the biggest supermarket chain in Africa?
Shoprite, of South Africa. It sold R270.8 billion ($16.15 billion) of merchandise in its year to June 2026, more than double the second chain, SPAR, at $7.89 billion. Shoprite runs 3,710 stores, including 573 OK Franchise outlets, across eight African countries.
How much bigger is Shoprite than the next two chains combined?
Shoprite's $16.15 billion is $1.08 billion more than SPAR ($7.89 billion) and Pick n Pay ($7.17 billion) earn together, a lead of 7.2 percent over their combined $15.07 billion. It is also 3.75 times the combined sales of the six non-South African chains in the top 10.
Why is there no Nigerian supermarket chain in the top 10?
Two reasons. First, Shoprite, the chain that once anchored Nigerian formal grocery, sold its Nigerian stores in 2021. Second, no Nigerian-owned chain publishes audited annual sales at this scale. Nigeria's grocery trade is still dominated by open markets and small independent shops, so the formal chains that do exist are too small, or too opaque, to rank.
Why are Massmart and Marjane missing from the ranking?
Both are missing because they do not publish the figure this ranking is built on. Massmart, which owns Makro, Game and Builders, has reported no standalone sales since Walmart bought out its minority shareholders and delisted it in late 2022. Its last published annual sales were R86.5 billion in 2020, which would have put it about fourth. Marjane, Morocco's largest chain with 45 hypermarkets and more than 200 outlets, is privately held by Al Mada and publishes no revenue figure. On store count alone it would likely rank in the top six. Both are left out rather than estimated, so that every figure in the table can be traced to a published source.
Which country has the most chains in the top 10?
South Africa, with four: Shoprite, SPAR, Pick n Pay and Woolworths. Kenya is next with three: Naivas, Quickmart and Carrefour Kenya. Morocco, Botswana and Tunisia have one each. South Africa's four take 89.4 percent of the top 10's $40.46 billion in sales.
Data Sources
- Shoprite Holdings, full-year results for the 52 weeks ended 28 June 2026: results presentation and Trade Intelligence summary; Sunday World, 1 September 2026.
- SPAR Group, annual results for the 52 weeks ended 26 September 2025: results presentation and JSE SENS announcement, 8 December 2025.
- Pick n Pay Stores, audited results for the 52 weeks ended 1 March 2026: JSE SENS announcement, 22 May 2026 and Moneyweb, 25 May 2026.
- Woolworths Holdings, audited results for the 52 weeks ended 28 June 2026: JSE SENS announcement, 1 September 2026 and Sunday World, 2 September 2026.
- Label'Vie, annual results 2025: press release, 4 February 2026 and 7news Morocco on the 2024 results.
- Naivas, financial year to 30 June 2025: Pulse Kenya and Serrari Group, reporting IBL Group disclosures.
- Choppies Enterprises, audited results for the year ended 30 June 2025: Botswana Stock Exchange filing, 22 September 2025 and Moneyweb SENS republication.
- Magasin Général, 2025 results: African Manager, 6 May 2026 and Tustex board release; StockAnalysis revenue history.
- Quickmart, financial year to December 2025: IPO prospectus figures via Kingdom Securities and BiznaKenya, 25 September 2026.
- Carrefour Kenya, 2025 revenue: Business Daily, 12 September 2026, reporting Majid Al Futtaim disclosures.
- OK Zimbabwe, year ended 31 March 2025: AfricanFinancials and The Herald, 11 November 2025.
- Exchange rates, 12 November 2026: Finnhub OANDA (USD/ZAR close 16.7706), Central Bank of Kenya (KES 129.96), Mataf (MAD 9.8774, BWP 13.9120), XE (TND 3.0119).
Methodology
This ranking uses one measure: each chain's latest reported sale of merchandise or turnover, from its latest audited full-year results available on 13 November 2026. Where a group reports both a revenue figure and a merchandise sales figure, the merchandise figure is used, so Shoprite is measured at R270.8 billion rather than group revenue of R274.8 billion, and Woolworths at turnover of R82.8 billion rather than revenue of R83.47 billion. SPAR is measured on continuing operations only, at R132.4 billion, because its Swiss and Polish businesses were sold in the year. Pick n Pay's figure includes Boxer, which is a consolidated subsidiary, so Boxer is not ranked separately. Boxer's turnover of about R47.5 billion is derived from the reported 12.3 percent growth on its prior-year R42.3 billion, not from a separately published figure. Shoprite's figure includes its OK Franchise outlets. Label'Vie is measured on retail sales of MAD 15.87 billion, not group revenue of MAD 18.53 billion, because group revenue includes property development and petrol stations. Choppies is measured on retail sales of BWP 9.11 billion, not group revenue of BWP 9.17 billion. Magasin Général is measured on consolidated turnover of about TND 1.20 billion. Its parent-company turnover of TND 1.16 billion would put it ninth instead of eighth, behind Quickmart by about $2 million, so the eighth and ninth places are effectively tied. The order follows the consolidated figure used for every other group. All figures are converted to dollars at 12 November 2026 rates: R16.77, MAD 9.88, KES 129.96, BWP 13.91 and TND 3.01 per dollar. Fiscal years end between March 2025 and June 2026, and each chain's year-end date is shown in the table. Every derived claim in this article, including the top-10 total of $40.46 billion, the top-four share of 89.4 percent, and the Shoprite multiples, was recomputed from the final table values. Two chains that would otherwise rank were left out because they publish no usable figure. Massmart has reported no standalone sales since Walmart's 2022 buyout, and Marjane publishes no revenue figure. BIM Morocco was also left out because its Turkish parent reports no Morocco revenue. Pharmacy-led chains such as Dis-Chem and Clicks were not counted as supermarket chains. OK Zimbabwe, at $245 million, is the first chain to miss the cut.
Feature image: fresh produce at a Checkers store in Durbanville, Cape Town. Photo by Husskeyy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
