Shoprite CEO, Pieter Engelbrecht took home a staggering R83.3 million in the 2024 financial year — making him one of South Africa’s highest-paid executives.

His pay, which includes bonuses, rose 6.6% under a revamped compensation plan including a new executive deferred incentive. The increase comes at a time when millions of South Africans face record unemployment and rising living costs, as the country’s largest private-sector employer continues to navigate an economy weighed down by inflation and high interest rates.

Over the past three years, Engelbrecht’s salary has steadily increased, from R63.5m in 2022 to R64.7m in 2023. Remuneration committee chair Peter Cooper cited strong financial results as a key factor for this increase. “The increase is also affected in the current year due to the ESP performance shares being awarded in September 2020 at R184.96 rising by 46% to a year end volume weighted average price of R270.40 for single-figure reporting purposes.”

The group has also taken steps to increase wages for its lowest-paid workers. Effective March 1, 2024, the national prescribed minimum wage for general assistants was raised to R27.58 an hour, with Shoprite ensuring compliance across all new appointments.

The growth of Shoprite

Shoprite created 8,723 new jobs, including 3,560 for young people under 30, and trained 6,012 unemployed youth. Invested R469.7 million in our communities, providing over 222,000 meals every day through our hunger relief programme. Gave R16.5 billion in instant cash savings to 33.7 million Xtra Savings members. Paid out over R1 billion to Shoprite Employee Trust beneficiaries since it began in 2022.

Freshmark, the Group's fruit and vegetable procurement and distribution arm. They distribute products to over 440 Shoprite Group stores as well as other retail outlets. The Shoprite Group has two furniture outlets, namely OK Furniture and House & Home. OK Furniture is aimed at the general public, while House and Home caters for the more discerning buyer. Operating in all Shoprite, Checkers and Checkers Hyper stores, the Meat Market Division (the largest fresh meat supplier within Africa) offers prime cuts and top-quality fresh meat.

Fast foods are sold through its Hungry Lion outlets. The Group also operates 32 liquor stores. It further offers all major service providers’ starter packs and pre-paid/re-charge vouchers; bus tickets in-store; Medi-Rite is a pharmacy operating inside selected Shoprite stores; and airline tickets, now available in more than five hundred retail outlets countrywide.

Without a doubt, a lot of great work has been done by the team at Shoprite, which is why recently in the 2025 financial year it was reported that Shoprite CEO, Pieter Engelbrecht witnessed his remuneration increase by roughly R3.7 million year-on-year, 2024 total remuneration was about R83.3 million. His 2025 total package is reported as R87 million. According to the Shoprite Holdings – Integrated Report 2025, The Group’s 2025 result demonstrates its commitment to a customer-centric strategy and execution excellence.

Despite a suppressed economic environment, Shoprite delivered strong growth, with sales and trading profit increasing by 8.9% and 16.6% respectively.  We also declared R4.2 billion in dividends to shareholders. The Chairman said, “This has been another commendable year for the Shoprite Group, our sixth successive year of market share growth during which the business continued to fulfil its promise of pioneering access to essential goods and services at the lowest prices.”

Performance

This is due to several factors and good collective smart work put in by the Shoprite Group, Engelbrecht’s earnings follow, after the Shoprite Group reported strong 2025 findings, with revenue up 8.6% to R257 billion and profit rising 21.9% to R7.6 billion. Core SA supermarkets, Shoprite and Usave increased returns by 5.9%, while Checkers surged 13.8%, adding R11.6 billion in sales. Earnings per share reached 22% to 1,401.2 cents, and dividends rose 7.9% to 781 cents.

The local development remained strong, adding 225 new stores across the country and ending the year with 3,908 outlets in total, even with exiting Ghana, Malawi, and its furniture division. Now, Engelbrecht said the retailer’s emphasis is on its “FreshX” (Checkers introduced its “FreshX“ stores to appeal to an affluent South African customer, offering a mix of brand-name and own label groceries, a bakery and a deli.) store construct and local investment continues to push growth and customer loyalty.

Strides in challenges

One of the challenges they face recently is economic pressure & inflation. This doesn’t just affect who is buying, and Shoprite’s customers are still under pressure, with disposable incomes stretched by inflation and increased cost of living. To remain competitive, the group has worked hard to maintain sell-price inflation low (below 2%) and increased promotional activity.

Navigating tough terrain is nothing new to the group, they have made it a mandate for themselves to keep costs in check, whether transport, inventory, logistics, energy, etc.—it became more difficult. Margin improvement needed stricter operational discipline. Also, higher promotional participation (discounts etc.) eats into margins. Stephan Erasmus, investment analyst at Anchor Capital stated that, “despite facing pricing pressures, Shoprite Group produced solid results in the first half of the year, improving gross margins by 0.3%.

These improvements indicate that the investments in IT systems, live pricing, and rewards programs are beginning to yield tangible benefits.”

In conclusion

The journey embarked by Shoprite is nothing short of a South African Success Story, from a standard chain of eight Cape-based supermarkets to the continents largest retail group is a true testament to operational brilliance, smart strategic vision and good customer understanding. Given all the economic struggles, changes in market dynamics and inflationary tensions, they have continued to portray strength and innovation with initiatives like their “FreshX” store, investing in the latest technology, and their commitment to sustainability.

Their core purpose is to ensure affordability, community upliftment and responsible development ensures that they are not only a retail giant however a crucial contributor to South Africa’s economic and social development. This also shows and further proves that holding strong values and smart evolution can transform humble beginnings into long lasting success.

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