South Africans bought fewer FMCG products in 2024 than the year before, according to our latest State of the Nation report. While take-home spend reached R387 billion across 115 tracked categories in 2024, the market’s value fell by 4.8% year-on-year – a sign that South African shoppers are cutting back on FMCG consumption.
The average household bought nearly 100 fewer packs in 2024, with volume down 9.8%. However, the rate of decline slowed over the year – from 10.8% in Q1 to 7.8% in the final quarter of last year – suggesting some early signs of stabilisation.
This softening aligns with slight economic improvements in the second half of 2024, including two interest rate cuts, a stronger rand and lower fuel prices. But not all South Africans benefited equally – lower-income households reduced their FMCG spend the most, cutting volumes by 11.8%.
FMCG sectors under pressure, but some brands buck the trend
All major FMCG sectors saw declines in 2024 as the size of the overall market contracted. Beverages were hit the hardest, with a 10.6% drop in packs bought per household in the last quarter, followed by food (-8.5%) and dairy (-7.8%). Fewer buyers led to 20% of categories losing their presence in consumers’ homes, while 78% saw a decrease in volume purchased per household.
Despite the challenging environment, 9% of categories experienced volume growth, including niche segments such as ready-to-eat chilled desserts, honey, kitchen paper, handwash, dishwasher detergent, ready-to-drink iced tea, fabric stain removers, frozen bakery items, meal solutions, and savoury spreads. These categories are largely driven by households in higher socio-economic brackets.
Several brands still managed to achieve growth through strategic market movements. For example, Truda Pretzels increased its share of total volume in the pretzel category from 17% to 71% in 2024 by identifying and meeting demand at a lower price point. Other brands that successfully increased their volume sales included Illovo Sugar, Fattis & Monis Pasta, Douwe Egberts, Benny Stock, Golden Delight Rice, and Shower to Shower Deodorants.
While category growth remains elusive in South Africa’s current retail environment, brand growth is still within reach. Whether this signals the start of a market recovery or just a temporary improvement, brands have an opportunity to benefit from better economic conditions by returning to the fundamentals.
Delivering a strong product is essential, and pricing must meet consumer expectations. Innovation can also play a key role in reigniting interest in categories that have become neglected or commoditised. This might involve exploring untapped space, introducing alternative price points, or offering different pack formats.
The brands that are managing to grow in today’s market are those making meaningful moves in at least one of these areas.
Retailer performance: discounters up, traditional trade down
Discounters grew their share from 8.1% to 8.5%, hypermarkets from 5.3% to 5.6%, and health & beauty stores from 3.4% to 3.7%. Supermarkets held steady at 56.8%, while traditional trade continued to decline, dropping from 7% to 5.8%.
Retail winners included Spar and Boxer, growing to 10.7% and 7.9% market share respectively. Shoprite, however, saw a dip from 23.4% to 22.7% in the final quarter of last year.
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