Since July 2022, The Outlier has tracked the prices of goods at six of South Africa’s major supermarket chains. We have collected the shelf prices of a set list of goods every month from Checkers, Pick n Pay, Food Lovers Market, Spar and Woolworths.

This chart highlights the prices of six food items commonly bought by middle-class shoppers: milk, white bread, chicken breast, mince, boerewors and tinned tuna. Each coloured line represents one of three unnamed national retailers, highlighting the fluctuating nature of prices over time.

While supermarket pricing often depends on seasonality and supply chains, it is also affected by brand-specific promotions, loyalty programmes and bulk discounts. These pricing strategies have complicated efforts to capture consistent data over time.

The Outlier’s data does not extend back far enough to show the pandemic-related price jumps over 2020 and 2021, but it does underscore how supermarket pricing can vary widely for the same item.