Shoprite plans 14 new outlets in Nigeria, to build distribution centre

South African grocer Shoprite Holdings, Africa's biggest retailer said on Tuesday it plans to open 14 new stores in the next 20 months in Nigeria and a distribution centre, aiming to move goods faster, the company chief executive  Whitey Basson said.

A Shoprite mull

Basson said Shoprite is banking on rapid growth in markets such as Nigeria and Angola where it aims to change the shopping habits of Africa's rising middle class.
Angola, is the only other market large enough to justify a distribution centre in the next five years, he said.
The CEO said Shoprite plans to add another 35 stores to the 189 it has in the rest of Africa, hoping to improve on the 16 percent contribution that Africa ex-South Africa makes to its profits.
 Last year it opened 20 stores outside South Africa.
 "It usually takes three to five years for countries to change from pavement shopping to using supermarkets," Basson said at a presentation of the company's results.
The retailer, which began as a chain of eight stores in South Africa in 1979 and has had Basson at the helm throughout, now spans 15 countries across the continent, 13 of which posted stronger economic growth than South Africa last year.