Despite not operating stores in Australia and in the United Kingdom, South African retailer Checkers has embarked on a huge marketing drive.
The household and grocery store says it wants to remind South Africans living in the two countries that the country is still the best place to live in.
Checkers has placed adverts in two newspapers, The Sydney Herald in Australia and the London Evening in the United Kingdom.
The store is looking to highlight what it called its “value offering” – despite having not managing or operating stores in Sydney or London.
Chiefs marketing officer for Checkers Mike Middleton said the retailer wanted to “remind the many South Africans living abroad that our country is a great place to live”.
“When it comes to good food and wine, the grass is certainly not greener on the other side of the ocean,” Checkers said in its statement.
“The advert shows exactly how much cheaper it is to buy products like Moët & Chandon, Coca-Cola, matured rump steak, and laundry capsules at Checkers versus stores such as Coles, Aldi, and Woolworths in Australia.
“For example, at Checkers, a bottle of Moët & Chandon costs R408 less than at Woolworths in Australia and R288 less than at M&S in England.”
Looking at last year’s statistics, almost a million South Africans were registered to be living abroad, according to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ 2020 International Migrant Stock report.
News24 reports that the largest number of South African emigrants lived in the United Kingdom while Australia registered the most at number two.
Additionally, the group said it wants to pass a message and a reminder to emigrants of savings back home and the advert aims to communicate that it does not “just sell groceries”.
“We are selling a better lifestyle,” Middleton added.
Checking out a previous article, BusinessTech Africa reported that Checkers Hyper became the first grocery and household store to pilot a heavy-duty fully-electric truck in its fleet of vehicles.
The Checkers Hyper-branded unveiled a new Scania Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) that boasts nine batteries and solar panels fitted to its roof.
Checkers said these will help support a fully-electric cooling system for its refrigerated carriage, which can fit approximately 16 pallets.