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 The entrance to a Woolworths Food store inMontague Gardens,Cape Town | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| JSE:WHL | |
| ISIN | ZAE000063863 |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1931; 94 years ago (1931) |
| Founder | Max Sonnenberg |
| Headquarters | Cape Town,South Africa |
Number of locations | 1,057(2024)[1] |
Area served | Southern Africa (89% of stores) Australia (11% of stores) |
Key people | Hubert Brody (Chairman) Roy Bagattini (CEO) |
| Products | Groceries Clothing Homeware Financial services Cosmetics |
| Revenue |  R77.33 billion(2024)[1] |
 R5.96 billion(2024)[1] | |
| R2.6 billion(2024)[1] | |
| Total assets | R38.7 billion(2024)[1] |
| Total equity | R10.86 billion(2024)[1] |
Number of employees | 33,811(2024)[1] |
| Divisions | Woolworths Country Road Group Woolworths Financial Services Absolute Pets |
| Website | woolworthsholdings woolworths |
Woolworths (officiallyWoolworths Holdings Limited, and commonly referred to asWoolies) is aSouth African multinationalretail company, headquartered inCape Town. Founded in Cape Town, in 1931, the company owns the South African luxurydepartment andgrocery store chain, Woolworths, the Australian retailerCountry Road, and South Africa's largestpet store chain,Absolute Pets.[2] The group employs around 34,000 people.[1]
The South African division of Woolworths comprisesluxury goods retail, includingfashion,homeware, andbeauty products. Standalone food stores, and “Food Stops” attached toEngen gas stations, are located in metropolitan areas across South Africa.
A major part of the group, Woolworths Financial Services (WFS) offers store cards, credit cards, revolving loans, and pet insurance to consumers. In its 2024 fiscal year, WFS accounted for 4% of Woolworths' revenue.[3]
Woolworths operates 436 stores in South Africa, as well as a total of 161 stores in itsEngen outlets and rest ofAfrica group. It also operates 172Absolute Pets stores, and 288 Country Road stores. In total, Woolworths has, as of its 2024 fiscal year, a total of 1,057 stores across all of its markets, covering a total trading area of around 841,000 square meters.[1] 89% of Woolworths' stores are in Africa, and the remaining 11% are in Australia.[3]
Woolworths also operates WCafe, a chain of approximately 220cafés that range in size from full-service, sit-down-stylerestaurants, tocoffee bars with their own counters that are built into Woolworths stores, to smaller-formatbarista stations outside certain food stores. The cafés also facilitate bakery orders. WCafe is a prominent brand within the South African coffeehouse market, and among those with the highest number of outlets.[4][5]
Founded byMax Sonnenberg, Woolworths first opened its doors on 30 October 1931 in Plein Street,Cape Town, in the dining room of the recently closed Royal Hotel. Its initial success led to the opening of two additional stores in the Cape region.[citation needed]
It became evident that the new business had the potential to expand nationwide, although a lack of capital initially hindered this prospect. Sonnenberg’s friend, Elie Susman, provided the necessary funds for the expansion into theTransvaal and subsequently became his business partner.[citation needed]
The choice of the name originated from Sonnenberg’s friendship with a London shipper and financier, Percy (P.R.) Lewis. Lewis was a director of Australasian Chain Stores (ACS), a London shipping and finance house established to service a rapidly expanding Australian business founded by W.T. Christmas.
London shippers frequently provided finance and selected goods, sight unseen, which were then dispatched to their clients. Given that the (now defunct) American companyF.W. Woolworth Company had no desire to trade in Australia, “Father” Christmas – as he was known – adopted the name for his new enterprise. Lewis proposed to Sonnenberg that ACS could add to “Father” Christmas’s order sheet and send a scaled-down quantity of each successive item in Australia to South Africa.
Accordingly, Sonnenberg adopted the name for his venture. Two years later, a South African court ruled that sufficient goodwill had been established to dismiss an injunction brought by the American retailer against the use of the name.[6]
In 1998, Woolworths acquired a controlling interest in the Australian clothing retailerCountry Road. However, the company was unable to take Country Roadprivate due toSolomon Lew's refusal to sell his 11.67% stake in the business.[7][8] Woolworths assumed full ownership of Country Road in July 2014 when it purchased Lew’s shareholding for US$200 million.[9][10]
In 2014, Woolworths purchased the Australian department store businessDavid Jones for A$2.1 billion. David Jones was sold to private equity firmAnchorage Capital Partners in December 2023.[11]
In March 2025, Woolworths launched its Woolies After Dark partnership withUber Eats. Available at select Woolworths Foodstops atEngen gas stations, the service enabled at-home deliveries until midnight, beyond any of the retailer's standard store hours.[12]
In July 2025, Woolies opened a new format of store - Woolworths Food Emporium, with the first location inDurbanville,Cape Town. The store became the company's newflagship. The supermarket is not only a larger format than the average Woolworths Food store, but features an experiential design. The new layout includes specialist areas including aflorist station, Our Kitchen to-go counter with live cooking, fishmonger, confectionery area, and Italian and Mexican pantry section, and WCellar wine section.[13]
Woolies operates numerous different formats of stores, including:[14]
The company also operates Woolworths Financial Services, as well as Country Road Group.[14]
The company sells clothing and accessories under several brands, including Studio W, RE:, and Edition, while also representing the Group’s Australian brands, including Country Road,Witchery, and Trenery.[14]
Launched in 2007, the Good Business Journey set specific public sustainability targets for the company.[15] It also aims to ensure a consistent approach to addressing sustainability issues across its global supply chain, as part of Woolworths’ declared ambition to be the most sustainable retailer in the Southern Hemisphere.[16]
In 2016, the company introduced its GBJ 2020 goals, which included integrating the programme into the Group’s Australian businesses – now accounting for over forty per cent of turnover.[17][18]
The WHL Group’s GBJ 2020 commitments include contributing overR3.5 billion to communities across the Group over the subsequent five years; saving 500 billion litres of water during the same period; halving the company’s energy impact by 2020 and achieving 100 per cent clean energy by 2030; driving responsible sourcing of all key commodities by 2020; and ensuring that everyprivate-label product sold incorporates at least one sustainability attribute by 2020.[17]
In June 2018, Woolworths announced its intention to achieve zeropackaging waste to landfill by 2022, with the aim of ensuring that none of its packaging ends up in landfills. This objective requires the use of 100 per cent recyclable materials for its packaging, along with a supportive recycling infrastructure.[19][20] Woolworths also committed to phasing out single-use plastic shopping bags completely by 2020.[21]
In August 2018, the Palmyra Junction store in Claremont introduced in-store recycling vending machines.[22]
In October 2018, Woolworths launched an in-store reusable bag trial as part of its efforts to phase out plastic bags.[23] Beginning on 5 November 2018, these new, entry-level reusable shopping bags were made available in four stores across the Western Cape - (V&A Waterfront,Palmyra Junction,Pinelands, andSteenberg), and have since been distributed to additional stores.[24]
Woolworths Steenberg operated without plastic bags during the trial, giving customers the choice of either purchasing a reusable bag or using their own. Single-use plastic bags remained available in the other three stores. In April 2019, further stores – including those atMaroun Square,Moreleta Village, andDelcairn Centre – were designated as plastic bag-free.[25]
In 2015, Woolworths entered into a partnership with American musicianPharrell Williams,[26][27] marking the first strategic collaboration of its kind for a South African retailer. Williams assumed the role of Style Director in a series of sustainability-focused projects. The campaign comprised four key elements: entertainment, the showcasing of young talent, fundraising for education, and the promotion ofsustainable fashion.
In July 2015, Woolworths announced the maturity of itsBlack Economic Empowerment Employee Share Ownership Scheme (BEEESOS).[28]
Launched in 2007 as part of the company's Good Business Journey, the scheme forms part of Woolworths’ commitment to socio-economic transformation. The retailer was the first to introduce an empowerment initiative in which BEEESOS shares were allocated to previously disadvantaged employees based on both length of service and seniority. At the time, the scheme accounted for approximately 10% of Woolworths’ ordinary share capital.
Woolworths’ strong performance over the preceding eight years generated R2.4 billion for the scheme's participants, who also received dividends totalling R332 million during the scheme's lifetime.
In October 2010, Woolworths faced criticism for its decision to removeChristian magazines from its shelves and discontinue their sale. This move sparked significant backlash from the Christian community, with many calling for a boycott of the retailer.[29] Woolworths maintained that the decision was purely business-driven, with CEO Simon Susman attributing it to declining sales.[29] Following the public outcry, the company reinstated the five magazines to its shelves.[30]
In September 2012, Woolworths faced allegations of racialdiscrimination after being accused of excludingwhite job applicants and staff.[31] The controversy arose from claims that job advertisements on the company’s career website specified that positions were open only to "African, Coloured, and Indian" candidates.[32]
Following the backlash, Woolworths amended the wording of its job advertisements to state: "In accordance with Woolworths' Employment Equity approach, preference will be given to candidates from designated groups."[31] Various public groups and communities called for a boycott of Woolworths, similar to the response faced by theDis-Chem pharmaceutical retail group after it announced a policy not to consider white applicants for certain positions.[citation needed]
In June 2023, Woolworths faced public criticism from various groups, including religious organisations such as the Muslim Judicial Council and Christian groups, for promotingLGBTQIA+ merchandise to young customers.[33] In response to the backlash, Woolworths issued a statement affirming its commitment to the marketing campaign as part ofPride Month, stating that it would not retract its support.[34]
In October 2013, Woolworths faced allegations of plagiarism after South African artist Euodia Roets accused the retailer of using her designs without permission. Roets claimed that Woolworths had retained her designs as samples following failed contract negotiations and later used them on a cushion sold in its stores.[35] In an article detailing her allegations, Roets presented side-by-side comparisons of her original artwork and the Woolworths cushion, highlighting the striking similarities. Woolworths denied the allegations on its website.[36]
Roets further alleged that Woolworths had copied text from Wikipedia'sHummingbird article without attribution, in violation of theCreative Commons License. The text featured on the design was an exact match to portions of Wikipedia's content. When questioned about this, the official Woolworths South Africa Twitter account responded, "We've checked with our lawyer; Wikipedia does not own the content."[37]
In January 2019, Woolworths withdrew a line of baby carriers following accusations that the design had been copied from South African brand Ubuntu Baba and sold at a significantly lower price. The controversy emerged after Shannon McLaughlin, founder of Ubuntu Baba, published a blog post outlining her claims, which quickly gained traction on social media.[38]
McLaughlin alleged that several of her company's baby carriers had been purchased by Woolworths and delivered to its head office in June 2017, approximately a year before Woolworths launched its own version.[39] Woolworths later admitted that its baby carriers were derivatives of Ubuntu Baba's design and issued a formal apology.[40]
In early 2012, the South African Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that Woolworths' Vintage Cold Drink range was an imitation ofFrankie's Soft Drinks. The ASA found that Woolworths had intentionally copied the phrase "Good Old Fashioned Soft Drinks" to market its product, thereby infringing on Frankie's intellectual property rights. Woolworths agreed to remove the range immediately.[41] Following the ruling, Woolworths South Africa CEO Ian Moir acknowledged the negative public reaction, stating: "Public opinion is so much against us and, whether we're right or whether we're wrong, customer opinion is against us."[42]
