‘We all know who the ex-pats really miss’ – Woolworths cheeky response to Checkers advert

Checkers placed adverts in London and Australian newspapers. Picture: Supplied

Checkers placed adverts in London and Australian newspapers. Picture: Supplied

Published Jan 27, 2023

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Earlier this week, one of South Africa’s biggest retailers, Checkers, ran adverts in British and Australian newspapers to remind expats of their offerings.

Checkers said it ran two adverts in “The London Evening Standard” and “The Sydney Herald”.

“We want to remind the many South Africans living in both the United Kingdom and Australia that our country is a great place to live, and Checkers makes living here even better,” said Mike Middleton, Checkers chief marketing officer.

Checkers said the grass was not always greener on the other side of the ocean.

The adverts highlighted how much cheaper it is to buy products such as Moët & Chandon, Coca-Cola, matured rump steak and laundry capsules at Checkers compared to stores such as Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Waitrose in England and Coles, Aldi, and Woolworths in Australia.

The South African-based group said that at Checkers a bottle of Moët & Chandon costs R408 less than at Woolworths in Australia and R288 less than at M&S in England.

Woolworths, however, may have taken some offence at Checkers’s antics.

Woolworths took to social media on Friday, posting an image with the words, “We all know who the ex-pats really miss”, and captioned the post, “Chuckles”.

It is worth noting though that Woolworths Holdings Limited is a South African multinational retail company that owns the South African retail chain Woolworths, and Australian retailer Country Road Group.

It has no association to Australia's Woolworths supermarket chain.

BUSINESS REPORT