Massmart sees growth in private brand food offering

Retail 16 September 2022

As South African consumers continue to turn to private brand products to make their money go further, Massmart’s ‘M’ frozen convenience offering has experienced exciting growth of over 30% at Makro between January and June this year.

‘M’ is of equivalent quality to leading brands in the same categories and the brand is aggressively developing new products, given the increased emphasis Massmart is placing on private brands.

The brand's best-seller thus far has been its frozen chicken range, which includes fillets, strips, nuggets, and schnitzels which has been driven in part by the rising popularity of air fryers.

“There is no doubt that perceptions around private brands continue to shift in South Africa, as the quality of these products improves, and consumer budgets become increasingly constrained. Our ‘M’ range typically offers the shopper a saving of between 10% and 15%, which has caught the attention of customers,” explains Clyde Hill, Group Private Brand Vice-President at Massmart.

Besides the convenience of having easy-to-cook items in the freezer for quick meals, Hill notes that many South African consumers continue to dine in and entertain at home, given constrained entertainment budgets in the current, high-inflation environment.

Given the increased demand for quality, affordable, at-home convenience food, Massmart continues to increase its frozen convenience range, has launched a range of pizzas this year.

The group is currently exploring other suitable opportunities to add to the existing range which, in addition to chicken products, includes samoosas, sausage rolls, spring rolls, rissoles, frozen vegetables and chips.

“For customers looking for larger quantities when catering for large events, many of the items in the ‘M’ range are available in the larger, ‘bulk’ pack ARO private brand range,” concludes Hill.