By Janice Kew | Updated on Oct 12, 2026 at 12:14 PM
Boxer Retail Ltd. promoted its supply-chain head to run the South African budget grocer from March, with the retailer facing intense competition for cash-strapped consumers.
Justin Galloway will take over from Marek Masojada, 61, who will step down from his role at the end of February, the Durban-based company said Monday. Masojada, who has been with the company for 33 years, will stay on until November next year to support a transition that has been planned since before Boxer listed in Johannesburg in November 2024.
“We’ve got one or two of us that are hitting 60 and above, and obviously we had to plan for that,” Masojada said in an interview. Boxer was “very happy” to appoint internally, with Galloway bringing deep experience in the business, he said.
Galloway, 43, a chartered accountant who joined Boxer in 2012, currently leads its supply-chain operations and has been a member of the group executive since 2020. He has also worked in finance and store operations and helped build the distribution network underpinning Boxer’s expansion.
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Profit excluding certain one-off items rose 9.1% to 565 million rand ($34 million) in the 26 weeks through Aug. 30, while sales increased 6.3% to 24.1 billion rand, the company said.
Boxer competes for consumers whose spending power is stretched, making price increasingly important in determining where they shop, Masojada said.
“Customers are loyal to price,” he said. “They’re loyal to your brand to an extent, but they’re loyal to price because they have no choice.”
Food-price inflation at Boxer’s stores has been subdued, but Masojada said prices for some basic commodities appear to have bottomed and could begin rising toward the end of the year and into next year. Higher diesel and energy costs are among the pressures that could feed through to prices, while South Africa’s large corn crop could keep some food prices lower for longer.
The consumer is “really at the hilt” in terms of spending ability, Masojada said, adding that this is reflected in weaker turnover growth across the retail industry. The battle for that constrained spending has intensified, with even retailers that don’t traditionally position themselves as discounters leaning harder on promotions and price.
“In this environment, everybody is a discounter,” he said.
Trading momentum improved further in September, giving Boxer greater confidence heading into the second half, Masojada said.
Boxer opened 24 stores during the half and remains on track to open 60 in the full year, part of a longer-term expansion drive supported by additional distribution capacity.
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