A R10 store also known as a one-price-store is a shop that sells products at a R10 price point. It is the general supermarket part of "Project X" that we have been working on: The goal is to offer better value at the R10 price point. Either by offering more value, a different configuration or a new product at that price with the ultimate goal of having a database of suppliers with a diverse enough product mix to fill an entire store - a R10 store. A R10 store is a store where everything cost R10. Every single thing customers will find on the shelves is R10.

Now starting out you do not need to start a shop that only sells items at a R10 price-point (we are not there yet) and certainly from a supplier perspective you should have your other product quantities and not just cater to this price-point.

But this is a concept we are working on we want B2B members to submit their products that MUST meet the following characteristics:

1. Cost between R2.50 and R7.50 wholesale and must sell (retail) for exactly R10 (no one can force you to sell for that price but that is the USP of this business or the "recommended" pricepoint to sell at).

2 Must be either discount if combined (if Niknaks retail at R1 each, then there must be more than ten packets in the R10 bag)

3. Or can sell at premium if scaled down to a non standard format (if eggs usually cost R12 a half dozen - R2 each, we will accept a carton of 4 that retails at R10 - at R2.50 each). In other words you can you create a carton that takes four eggs and can you sell it for R7.50 maximum.

If you live in the townships then small portions is nothing new, a single teabag, one egg cup of rice, spoon of oil etc. We need to take that mainstream formalise that by offering value for R10.

We will shoehorn (force) a non-standard configuration if required. We don't care about "standard" sizes of half-dozen or dozen or 500ml or liter or 500g or 1kg or 100's or 200's.

Peanut butter under R10 is already a reality ©singfromthehair

Now the main spirit of our R10 project of selling items at a price-point of R10 that is not traditionally sold at that price, "shoehorning" if necessary. So you might ask: What is the point? The point is when you are a small business - one of the easiest or only way -  to compete is to you need to look at niches not covered by large incumbents. What do I mean in context

The goal is first and foremost to create a list of suppliers on BusinessOpportunities.co.za that can fulfill the whole product mix that a shop requires. And when we have achived that we will look at doing the same for the niche's like health (R10 equivalents of Clicks and Dischem for example).

Now at the moment we have popular sizes in the major stores 1 liter, 750ml, 500ml. But a large player won't make 100ml for example as it is not feasible to them but it might be to a small business - even at a premium - even if the small business is buying from the big business and decanting themselves. The same can be said for items sold in quantities sold are not sold in less than a certain quantity at major stores. Take sanitary pads for example: if you can buy 10 for R20 at a shop then surely it can be sold 5 for R10. But will a major manufacturer do that? Probably not. That is where the niche is in this business. This can apply to anything that has traditionally been sold half a dozen, 10, 20 etc.

The industry
In the US you have "dollar" like Dollar Tree stores and in the UK you have "pound" stores like Poundland. But South Africa's currency is too weak and with a waning manufacturing sector dependent on international imports in international currencies usually the US dollar. If you are old enough to remember you will know that the "Crazy Store" used to be called the "R10 Store". Crazy Store like many of the dollar and pound stores are what is known as "discount variety" chains. But whether Crazy Store can still be considered "discount" is debatable.  We do not have value supermarkets in SA outside of surplus clearance or discount stores and they also do not fall below the R10 price-point.

Rationale
South Africa's cost of living is too high for most people. Being forced to buy a quantity of an item you don't need much of is a luxury that many can't afford. That is why in townships you are able to buy single eggs, single teabags etc. We need to take this mentality and run with it. The situation in South Africa is not getting any better; the economy is not growing fast enough we would need a miracle similar to "Miracle on the Han" or "Miracle on the Rhein" to get the masses out of poverty but unlike South Korea or Germany, South Africa does not have the education or the mindset and mentality for a large scale event like that. South Africa is in fact regressing to a less-developed state.

This is a hypothetical example: the gist of the matter is this: the cost of living is too high for most South African's, if you have R100 and need cooking oil then a 750ml bottle costs more than a third of that. You don't need 750ml oil to cook with. That 750ml can be decanted - properly - and sell for R10 per 150ml. The wholesaler can still get R37.50 per 750ml oil (R7.50 per 150ml). R10 shampoo, R10 pads, R10 anything that can be repacked into a configuration that can wholesale for R2.50 to R7.50 but still offer value. We need this in every single category of the store

Two years ago I said "South Africa’s future retail will look more like the poor black townships: small portions, teabags sold loose, flour by the cup, single diapers etc. And the money will be made by adjusting supply chains and retail accordingly".

If we have to create 500ml sachets of milk, if moulds have to be made, If dies have to be re-cast so be it! We are forging ahead.

Even if we cannot find the product mix to fill a whole shop we want this to be a way to look at things in the sense that we need to break the "standard" way products are packaged to keep up with the cost of living.

The macro opportunity
The macro opportunity  in the R10 store business will be packaging and repacking into "non-conventional" configurations. Egg cartons will need to take four eggs rather than 6 to be sold at a R10 price-point. Everything that is currently sold in 500g sold above R10 would need to be reconfigured to 400, 300, 250, 200 or even 100g. You should be able to buy anything from icing sugar to coconut at a R10 price-point. And that goes for anything sold at any quantity. There will be a premium to cover this. If something say almond powder sells 100g for R30, then you will probably pay R10 for 30g for example.

Packaging & Repacking
Packaging and repacking is already common in the industry as most commodities are packaged when initially traded in 25kg or similar sized bags it is then repacked into retail sized packaging. The first opportunity in this business would then be to package in non conventional sizes. Every single product in a shop that sells for above R10 can be repacked to meet the R10 price point and reduced in due time when necessary to account for inflation. This packaging and repacking can be considered to be the "Pick-and-Shovel" play of this business.

Now in 2021 I sarcastically wrote in Smaller Portions – South Africa’s Next Big Business:   
South Africa’s future retail will look like this:

Current & Future:

Eggs sold in trays, dozen-half dozen. Look at Mr. Money Bags over here buying 6 eggs! Eggs will be sold loose in single 1’s.

Shampoo: 400ml, 500ml, 1 Liter. No Way Jose! Shampoo will be sold in 50ml, 100ml bottles.

Sunflower cooking oil: Currently 375ml, 500ml, 2l. What!?!? Are you Warren Buffet? Oil must me sold in 50ml-100ml as well.

Whatever gets sold by the kilo must be sold by the 100g, 200g, 250g etc.

I was actually serious.