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Much of the broader conversation around AI in market research assumes conditions that do not consistently exist across many African markets, writes Soyinka Witness.
ECONOMY
Choppies’ trading update indicates lower consumer spending in Botswana
By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2026
Grocery retailer’s challenges may reflect a new reality in Botswana, whose economy is closely aligned with the struggling diamond trade.
A depressed six-month trading statement released by Botswana-based supermarket chain Choppies in indicative of slowing consumer spending in its home country, caused in part by woes in the diamond industry.
Analysts are warning that macro-economic pressures are hitting Botswanans in their wallets, while Choppies itself is predicting that profit after tax for the full year will decline. The trading update is for the six months ending 31 December 2025 and comes amid a sharp fall in the company’s share price since the start of the year.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
“Choppies is a good bellwether for the consumer economy in Botswana. Its challenges reflect a new reality in the country in which dependency on the diamond trade may be a vulnerability if global demand for diamonds is falling or volatile,” comments Trendtype, the emerging markets consultancy.
Trendtype believes there are underlying challenges for retailers in Botswana, historically the safest and most stable market in Africa, as the economy falters.
“In Botswana, a slump in the global diamond market reduced consumer spend, compounded by government austerity measures and a devaluation of the pula,” the consultancy notes in a post published late last week.
Barometer of household purchasing power
In its own commentary, Equity Axis, a Harare-based financial media and research firm, says the collapse in global diamond demand has hollowed out Botswana’s consumer economy.
“Choppies is now the latest and perhaps most visible casualty, given that food retail is the most direct barometer of household purchasing power, Equity Axis comments.
“The Gaborone-based group, which at its peak operated dozens of stores across Zimbabwe before exiting the market in 2019 amid operational and regulatory difficulties, has since rebuilt its footprint across Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and South Africa.
“But it is the Botswana home market that is doing the most damage right now. The diamond-driven slump in consumer liquidity, compounded by the pula’s devaluation and the government’s austerity programme, has left shoppers buying less and trading down, crimping the high-margin lines that typically carry a grocer’s profitability.”
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