Shoprite Group revealed the completion of an initial 51% stake in a fintech company that targers South Africa's informal economy.
South African retail giant Shoprite Group has completed the acquisition of an initial controlling stake (51%) of fintech R&A Cellular, which is focused on South Africa’s informal economy and spaza shops.
The group revealed the completion of the initial stake in its results for the 52 weeks ended 28 June 2026, alongside other strategic acquisitions.
Shoprite CEO Pieter Engelbrecht said that R&A Cellular enabled informal and semi-formal micro retailers to offer high-frequency financial services within their communities.
The acquisition marks Shoprite’s entry into financial services for the informal economy. GG Alcock, an expert in the field, estimated that the informal economy was worth R750 billion to R1 trillion.
His estimate was confirmed by Standard Bank’s Business and Commercial Banking arm, which valued the local township market at around R900 billion in its first Township Informal Economy Report in 2025.
Shoprite first announced plans to acquire a majority stake in R&A Cellular in March 2026. The acquisition was still pending regulatory approval at the time.
R&A Cellular is a point-of-sale service provider. The company provides a device network that allows informal retailers to sell airtime, electricity vouchers, and entertainment products.
In March, Shoprite said that the investment in R&A Cellular marked the company’s intent to meet customers where they live, shop, and transact, by expanding its financial services offering.
Shoprite would seek to meet community retailers, including spaza shops and other informal merchants, and help them offer high-frequency, convenient daily transactions within their communities.
“This partnership marks a transformational moment for R&A Cellular,” the company’s founder and CEO, Rui Campos, previously said.
“By aligning with the Shoprite Group, we are combining deep retail scale with our technology and prepaid expertise to accelerate financial inclusion and unlock greater value for traders and communities.”
Jean Olivier, general manager of financial services at Shoprite, said that R&A Cellular was well-regarded in its market and had a strong management team.
Pieter Engelbrecht, Shoprite CEO
In its latest financial results, Engelbrecht said that Shoprite was focused on acquiring companies where specialist expertise, capacity and speed-to-market offered an advantage.
Engelbrecht described the acquisition of Shoprite’s stake in R&A Cellular and an agreement to acquire 100% of coffee company Vida e Caffe as “relatively small but strategic”.
For R&A Cellular, Shoprite completed the acquisition after the financial year-end of 28 June 2026, with the transaction finalised on 14 August 2026.
Since the acquisition took place after the financial year, Engelbrecht said Shoprite did not quantify the financial impact of the purchase in its results, which is why a purchase price has not been disclosed.
“The transaction will enable the meaningful scaling of the R&A Cellular platform by expanding the installed device base nationally across informal retailers,” he said.
“These initiatives are expected to drive growth, deepen customer engagement, and extend the Group’s financial services reach into the informal sector.”
Engelbrecht said it formed part of Shoprite’s fintech growth strategy. The group already offers digital transaction accounts through Money Market, low-cost remittances, and consumer credit and financing.
Following the acquisition, Shoprite planned to scale R&A Cellular’s value-added services offering and fold its own financial services products into the group’s product catalogue.
“By combining our scale with R&A’s presence, we are creating a practical way to expand access to essential services and support the communities that rely on informal retailers,” said Olivier previously.
Shoprite’s own value-added services, ticketing, and financial transaction commissions rose 9.6% to R1.37 billion as at the year-end of 28 June 2026.
It also revealed that during the financial year, it paid back a record R18.3 billion in Xtra Savings Rewards directly at till points to customers.
Shoprite said that its capital expenditure for 2026 was R6.8 billion, with a major portion of the spending dedicated to ongoing technology-related investments.
Its major technology-driven business remains its on-demand grocery delivery platform, Sixty60, which increased sales by 34.5% to R25.5 billion.
