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BUSINESS STRATEGY
Walmart planning to open a further 20-plus stores in South Africa
By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2026
Retail giant accelerating its rollout across the country, with a reported focus on Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape provinces.
International retailer Walmart plans to extend its footprint of branded stores in South Africa by opening a further 22 outlets.
Celebrating the opening of a Walmart store in South Africa
Two locations have already opened in the Greater Johannesburg area, with a third scheduled to open in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg, this weekend.
A further 21 stores are planned thereafter, according to local media reports. This will comprise an accelerated rollout across the provinces of Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
In many instances, the new outlets will replace stores that have been trading under the struggling Game retail brand. Game is part of the South African-based Massmart group. Massmart is, in turn, owned by Walmart under a deal concluded in 2022.
“Massmart has emphasised that it has no plans to shut down its Game chain in its entirety, despite the brand’s financial struggles in recent year,” reports the local news website My Broadband.
“The retailer said the stores marked for potential closure represented a small part of its total Game portfolio, which consists of 122 sites in South Africa.”
Partnerships with small local suppliers
Part of the Walmart strategy in SA is to emphasise partnerships with local suppliers. My Broadband reports that, at the Boksburg store for example, Walmart will partner with a small household detergent manufacturer called Ultra Chem. Ultra Chem was a participant in the Walmart/Massmart Supplier Growth Summit held in 2025.
Walmart is also expanding its 60-minute on-demand delivery service to support deliveries within an 8km radius of its stores, up from 5km initially.
The retailer’s strategy for its SA launch phase promotes daily low prices, exceptional customer experiences and meaningful community impact.
In South Africa, Walmart is up against the likes of Shoprite – the dominant local player which has multiple retail brands competing at different levels of the market – and Pick n Pay and Spar.
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