Two SA entrepreneurs offer new ways to trim rising grocery bills

The drudgery of buying groceries and paying more every month for the same basket of basics may just have become a little easier. Two young South African entrepreneurs are taking different approaches to the same problem: helping consumers to reduce their grocery bills at a time when food, fuel and electricity prices are all eating into disposable income.

Still Good, cofounded by chief executive Steffen Burrows, is helping consumers to buy discounted near-expiry and surplus food, whereas Grocify, founded by app developer Ethan Stander, lets you compare grocery prices before you get to the store. In both cases, the idea is simple: consumers need practical ways to pay less for the goods they already plan to buy.

Burrows says Still Good’s newly launched The Goods marketplace is an online store that helps South Africans to lower their cost of living by buying discounted items. It also helps companies to recover revenue on short-dated and problematic stock.

The marketplace sells short-dated pantry staples, groceries, personal care items, cleaning products and some electronics. These range from deodorant, peanut butter, sweets and crisps to bin bags, dishwashing liquid, batteries and wireless earbuds. There are discounts of up to more than 60%.

“We aim to intercept a portion of the 10 million tonnes of food wasted annually in South Africa before it ever reaches a supermarket shelf,” Burrows says.

The business was first launched with value bags, which gave consumers access to discounted, near-expiry or surplus bakery and fresh grocery items from major retail partners including Pick n Pay, Absolute Pets, Food Lover’s Market and Spar. In its first 12 months, Burrows says, Still Good helped shoppers save nearly R6-million through the sale of these value bags.

The Goods is a move beyond the mystery-bag model. Instead of buying a bag of discounted goods without knowing exactly what will be inside, you can choose the specific items you want. Burrows says this allows households to save on everyday products while it also reduces waste further up the supply chain.

“We built Still Good on the belief that great products shouldn’t go to waste just because they’re close to their best-before date, and The Goods marketplace was the logical next step in that mission, moving beyond consumer-facing waste reduction at retail level to tackling surplus and short-­dated stock further up the supply chain. Everyone wins: suppliers and manufacturers, as well as customers and the planet.”

The early buying patterns are telling. In the past four weeks, Cape Town’s southern suburbs, Durban North, Roodepoort and Johannesburg’s northern suburbs have emerged as some of the top-selling areas. These are not traditionally the areas most associated with bargain hunting, but Burrows says the trend shows that middle-class consumers are under pressure too, or they are more willing to buy products close to expiry if it reduces waste and saves money.

Orders are delivered to more than 2,000 Courier Guy lockers nationwide, which means shoppers in smaller towns or rural areas can also access cheaper goods if they do not have a short-dated food store nearby. The last-mile delivery cost is lower than traditional courier costs, and Still Good says this saving is passed on to consumers.

In the weeks since The Goods marketplace launched, the website has tripled its number of stock-keeping units, which suggests there is an appetite from both suppliers and shoppers. “We are a practical, everyday solution for households looking to stretch their budgets as well as those who are environmentally conscious and want their spending to reflect their values,” Burrows says.

Different approach

Stander’s Grocify comes at the same problem from the price-comparison side. The idea came from his girlfriend’s mother, who was checking prices across four different retailer apps and asked whether there was a way to make the process faster.

Stander built Grocify as a free tool that allows shoppers to compare grocery prices across stores and create shopping lists that update according to location. He does not see it as a budgeting app per se because, he says, it doesn’t help to set up budgets. “It’s pretty much just if you go in there and have a budget in mind and an idea of what you want to buy, then you can look and find the cheapest offer available for the item you want,” he says.

One of the key features is the grocery list function. Users can add items to a basket, turn the basket into a list and see where to get the best price.

Stander says consumers tend to choose convenience over chasing every possible saving. Most people do not want to drive to four different stores to get the “true cheapest” basket. They are more likely to choose the single store that gives them the cheapest overall basket. This makes sense because a saving that requires extra petrol, parking and time can quickly become less useful.

Grocify also shows prices per 100g, which helps consumers to compare products properly instead of being distracted by pack sizes or specials that may not offer the best value.

Stander says grocery price differences can be significant. In one comparison involving bulk soft drinks, the difference was R60 to R80. In another grocery basket comparison, Cape Town was about 20% more expensive than Johannesburg. He says the basket in Johannesburg was about R380 and in Cape Town it came in closer to R430 or R440.

Grocify has also incorporated loyalty card prices and specials, including buy-two offers, percentage discounts and multi-buy promotions. The app is free for now and does not require users to sign up. Stander says he does not want to charge users or load the app with consumer-facing advertising.

In the longer term, his business model could include giving brands or retailers access to pricing data, or allowing retailers to pay for certain product placements, provided the tool remains useful for shoppers.

Factors to keep in mind

For consumers, the lesson from both platforms is that grocery savings do not have to come from one big change. You can:

• Compare prices before leaving home.
• Choose the cheapest single-store basket rather than defaulting to the shop you always use.
• Check the per-100g price.
• Buy short-dated pantry goods, toiletries or cleaning products when the discount is worthwhile.
• Use surplus vegetables or bakery items to build meals around what is available, rather than planning every meal first and shopping at full price.

However, there are some rules of engagement. Short-dated products only save you money if you use them before they expire. A discounted product that ends up in your bin is still wasted money.

You should check whether the item has a best-before or use-by date, can be frozen and is something the household would have bought anyway. The same applies to bulk buying. A 24-pack may be cheaper per unit, but only if you have the cash flow, storage space and need for it.

The grocery bill is unlikely to become painless any time soon. But these two platforms show how technology, surplus stock and a bit of shopping discipline can help households claw back some breathing room. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly DM168 newspaper, available countrywide for R35.