Out of Windhoek’s seven popular grocery supermarkets, Choppies consistently offers the most affordable basket of standard groceries. Meanwhile, in the hypermarket category, Checkers stands out.
Our grocery basket comprises:
Loaf of bread
2-litre Nola Sunflower Oil
5kg Top Score maize meal
2.5kg Marathon sugar (white sugar)
1.5kg Real Good Chicken
1kg Beef stew
2kg Mama rice
3kg Pasta Polana Macaroni
1-litre Nammilk full cream milk
9 Twinsaver toilet paper (350 sheets)
700ml Wellington tomato sauce
1kg Sunlight Washing powder
750ml Sunlight dishwashing liquid
500g Rama Butter
18 Waldschmidt eggs (medium)
150g Protex bar soap
100ml Colgate toothpaste
1kg Onions
kg Potatoes
1kg Tomatoes
In May ‘24, Choppies once again emerged as the most cost-effective option, with an overall basket decrease of 2.6% month-on-month.
This reduction was primarily driven by the prices of vegetables per kilogram: onions dropped from N$29.95 to N$19.95, potatoes from N$21.95 to N$19.95, and tomatoes from N$69.95 to N$41.95.
Despite showing an overall basket decrease of 1.79%, Pick ‘n Pay ranked last in affordability. Key contributors to this decrease were tomatoes per kilogram from N$54.99 to N$49.99, beef stew per kilogram from N$89.99 to N$79.99, and Top Score from N$72.99 to N$69.99.
In terms of affordability, Spar ranked second, followed by Shoprite, OK Foods, Checkers, and Woermann Brock, with basket costs of N$981.76, N$981.80, N$994.10, N$995.80, and N$1002.26, respectively.
The commodity spotlight for May ‘24 focused on cooking oil. To ensure a fair comparison, the Nola brand was assessed in most stores, while Choppies and Spar preferred to sell their brands, which were also assessed during the survey period.
Throughout the 12-month survey, Choppies consistently offered the cheapest price for cooking oil, averaging N$70.99. The pricing trajectory began at N$95.99 in June 2023, decreased to N$83.99 in July 2023, and dropped to N$56.99 in September 2023.
Conversely, OK Foods had a higher average price of N$84.57. Their pricing trajectory showed a downward trend, starting at N$92.99 in June 2023, dropping to N$83.99 from October ‘23 to December 2023, and further declining to N$79.99 from January ‘24 to April ‘24, finally settling at N$69.99 in May ‘24.
In the hypermarket category, Checkers offered the cheapest basket at N$988.80, down from N$996.80, representing a 0.80% decrease.
Notable decreases included their Macaroni Pasta Polana, which decreased from N$89.99 to N$79.99, and onions per kilogram, which dropped from N$26.99 to N$24.99.
Metro came in second place with a basket costing N$992.80, an increase of 1.53%. This was mainly due to an increase in the price of washing powder from N$60.99 to N$65.99. However, prices for items such as onions and potatoes per kilogram decreased from N$26.99 to N$19.99 each.
Woermann Brock placed third with a basket increase of 0.47%. Notable increases included the price of their bar soap, which rose from N$12.99 to N$17.99.
The margin between hypermarkets and retailers remains thin. For May ‘24, Checkers offered the cheapest basket among hypermarkets, while Woermann Brock had the cheapest basket among retailers.
Note: We do not take specials or loyalty card discounts into consideration. When we find certain goods on special, for example, “Get N$10.00 off when buying 18 (medium) eggs and pay N$55.00”, we will log the price as N$65.00 to exclude the special.
May ‘24 alternatives
Spar – 2L oil (Spar brand), Nice Rice
OK Foods: Nice Rice
Pick ‘n Pay: Nice Rice
Choppies – 2kg rice (Nice Rice)
Every month since May ‘23, we have conducted comparisons of grocery prices in Windhoek. The goal is to help consumers by assessing the cost of a standard basket of 20 grocery items across various Retailers and Hypermarkets. As of June ‘23, we adjusted our basket, and in February ‘24, we introduced a new category: hypermarkets.
The surveyed retailers are OK Foods (Independence Avenue), Spar (Grove Mall), Woermann Brock (Hochland), Shoprite (Independence Avenue), Pick ‘n Pay (Grove Mall), Choppies (Khomasdal), and Checkers (Grove Mall).
For hypermarkets, we analyze Woermann Brock Hyper (Khomasdal), Metro Hyper (Kleine Kuppe), and Checkers Hyper (Maerua Mall).
