Walmart has officially entered the South African retail market, opening its first store on 22 November 2025 at Clearwater Mall in Johannesburg.
The launch marks a major step for the global giant, which has come in with one clear message: lower everyday prices.
But is Walmart actually cheaper than its South African competitors?
Walmart proves itself more affordable
Andrea Albright, Walmart International’s chief growth officer, said the opening is about more than expansion. She said the company aims to help customers save money without relying on short-term promotions or fluctuating prices.
To test that claim, BusinessTech used a nine-item grocery basket to compare prices at Walmart, Woolworths, Checkers, Pick n Pay and SPAR.
The items compared were bread, milk, oil, maize meal, sugar, rice, flour, soap and toilet paper.
Walmart came out the cheapest at R362.92 for all nine items. That puts it roughly R50 below SPAR, which came second at R412.87 for the basket.
The new retailer was also around R80 cheaper than Woolworths, which was the most expensive at R440.91 for the nine items. The biggest differences came from staples like oil, rice and toilet paper, where Walmart’s prices were consistently lower.
A second look
Another similar test was done by Massmart itself during the media briefing at the new store in Clearwater Mall.
Massmart COO Dries D’Hooghe said that a standard basket priced at R1 680 at Walmart cost noticeably more at two competitors, even after their promotions were applied.
Without promotions, those baskets were around R200 more expensive than Walmart’s. He said this reflects the retailer’s “Every Day Low Price” model, which avoids big swings in pricing.
A separate comparison by MyBroadband found the same trend, this time on the new Walmart shopping app.
A basket of common items like milk, bread, eggs, bacon and breakfast cereals cost R611.45 on the Walmart app, while Pick n Pay Asap came in at R655.86, and Checkers Sixty60 was R708.82 for the same items.
Walmart was cheaper on nearly every product except a few items on promotion at its competitors.
Whether these price gaps hold over time remains to be seen, but the early numbers show the market is in for a period of closer competition and sharper pricing.
