Exclusivity clause practices by South Africa’s major food retail chain groups as well as wholesale traders have led to concerns about the potential exclusion of new market entrants, reduced competition between supermarkets and broader competitors and the detrimental effects on consumers. Analysis based on comprehensive qualitative survey and interview based research revealed congruence between the perceptions of shopping centre owners and consumers, but less so with the preferences of food and grocery retailers that are, almost without exception, reveal exclusivity aspirations. These preferences appear to be founded on widely diverging motivations: whereas shopping centre owners strive towards increased market share, research suggests that the consumer reveals an affinity to convenience, choice and access to preferred brands – although the loyal consumer (perhaps more so the cash strapped and heavily indebted lower and middle income segments of the market) may be swayed from a preferred brand in search of the occasional ‘bargain’. Whereas a shopping centre anchored by a multiple grocer offering may well have an enhanced power of attraction over its single grocer peers, food and grocer retailers persist with the argument that – in spite of distinct consumer brand preferences – the differentiated food and grocer retail brands offer a relatively homogenous product and the best way for such retailers to retain market share, in their view, is by keeping the competition out.

Username
Password