In the past month (October 2020), Shoprite and Checkers, which are well entrenched as South Africa's low price leaders, have saved consumers R333 million. Ten million customers have joined the Shoprite and Checkers Xtra Savings rewards programme to receive instant cash savings and other benefits, and Checkers has put more than R1 billion back in the pockets of consumers since its rewards programme launched just over a year ago. The instant savings offered via the Xtra Savings programme are in addition to the low prices the Shoprite Group offers its customers every day. This is in line with its long term strategy to provide affordable products and evident in its continued market share gains during the coronavirus pandemic when customers were under unprecedented financial pressure. The Group's scale, and operational efficiency, is critical to its low price leadership strategy, and its ability to retain its competitive position on affordability. It also continues to innovate to bring the lowest prices to customers. This has included the launch of the Usave eKasi mobile trucks to ensure customers in hard to reach areas were able to get access to food, and virtual food vouchers to enable customers to make sure family, employees and friends had access to food during the national lockdown. All innovation is aimed at putting customers first and making sure the Group can continue to provide the best value at the lowest price. Through Shoprite, Checkers and Usave stores, the Group brings low prices to consumers from all walks of life, serving 24 million customers through over 1 billion transactions annually. In addition the Group has subsidised over 150 million R5 deli meals since 2017 and sold 63 million loaves of R4.99 bread in the past financial year as it continues to make sure that someone with just R5 in their pocket can afford to eat. The R5 meals were introduced to ensure that customers could get a hot meal from a Shoprite deli for R5 or less. The Group also subsidises its 600g in-house bakery bread, which has remained at R4.99 since April 2016, when the retailer first started its bread subsidy. The Group's focus on its customer was built on the back of affordability and addressing customer needs, and this remains a key differentiator of its business model.

Q.2.1 There are various considerations that organisations can use when evaluating strategies to determine which are the most suitable. Using the information from the above case study, evaluate the consistency, desirability and validity of the lowcost strategy that Shoprite is pursuing. Note: Ensure that you draw on examples from the case study to support your answer (10)