Keep the customer satisfied - 11 Jan 2016[Jessica Taylor, Retail Editor (@Biz_Retail)] Clicks Group and Sorbet Holdings today announced the formation of a new company, Sorbet Brands Pty Ltd, which will hold all the trademarks related to the Sorbet brand in Southern Africa. The group has also signed a long-term licence agreement with the holding company to be the exclusive product development partner and retailer of Sorbet ranges in the region. Following a slump in clothing sales over the Christmas trading period and having failed to revive sales in close to six years, Marks and Spencer announced last Thursday that CEO, Mark Bolland would retire. read more Revolutions and metamorphisms - 4 Jan 2016[Jessica Taylor, Retail Editor (@Biz_Retail)] This year, mobile wallets are set to spearhead online payments across Africa. NFC World reports that Tencent launched WeChat mobile wallet in South Africa just a few weeks ago, and we already have reports on Nedbank's digital payment solution, as well as the PayU e-commerce wallet. read more Best festive wishes - 15 Dec 2015[Jessica Taylor, Retail Editor (@Biz_Retail)] Thank you for being part of Bizcommunity this year. We hope you will remain a part of our local, African and global business communities in 2016. read more Pareto ends the year with a BOOM - 14 Dec 2015[Jessica Taylor, Retail Editor (@Biz_Retail)] Pareto Limited has acquired a 100% stake in Menlyn Park Shopping Centre in Pretoria, the management of which will now fall under Pareto's newly established property management company, Mowana Properties. CEO Marius Muller provides an outlook for 2015's festive season sales. While sales are likely to be flat and hard-pressed to beat inflation, consumers are equally hard-pressed for time, but there is one place where bigger is better this festive season, and that is the regional mall, he says. Deloitte released its 2015 Year-end Holiday Survey, suggesting that consumers are cutting back on discretionary expenditure on luxury or non-essential items, and demanding more from retailers in terms of lower prices, better service and responsible business practices. Charlene Olivier shares her opinion on the shopper revolution. read more It’s a UFO… no it’s a Smart Drink! - 7 Dec 2015[Jessica Taylor, Retail Editor (@Biz_Retail)] Turned out Joe Public United, in partnership with clients Clover & FutureLife, created the extensive one-week integrated experiential launch campaign that got everyone tweeting (using #UFOSA and #jozilanding) to grab consumers' attention for their latest on-the-go snack called Smart Drink. Pareto Limited announced its newly established property management company, Mowana Properties to manage R30bn of its own directly-held property assets as well as that of the Public Investment Corporation. read more Bye Black Friday, hi Cyber Monday - 30 Nov 2015[Jessica Taylor, Retail Editor (@Biz_Retail)] Black Friday dominated the retail space last week, and today we celebrate Cyber Monday. Checkers, the first SA food retailer to have taken part in the one-day extravaganza, teamed up with Uber to offer the first 1,000 new users a free (up to R100 each way) return trip to any Checkers store. read more 100,000 Big Macs in a day - 23 Nov 2015[Jessica Taylor, Retail Editor (@Biz_Retail)] In the fast food service industry, value for money has become the order of the day. "Food is not a luxury and quite honestly it is cheaper to eat fast food than it is to eat supermarket food in many cases," said Carlo Gonzaga, CEO of Taste Holdings. read more All the sense in the world - 16 Nov 2015[Jessica Taylor, Retail Editor (@Biz_Retail)] More from Retail Congress Africa this week, on building brand loyalty through customer relationship management and solid, predictive data, as discussed by Tara Fela-Durotoye, CEO of House of Tara, and Fran Peacock, Head of International Growth at Yuppiechef. Both businesses acknowledge that human needs are behind every purchase and responding to their customers as individuals has been the key to their success. Last week's events included: the South African launch of a US cranberry cooperative called Ocean Spray, on Tuesday; and the 2015 FNB Franchise Leadership Summit on Thursday at the Fairland offices in Johannesburg where industry leaders and stakeholders met to discuss franchising with regard to the theme: Planning for the Future. On Naspers selling price comparison site PriceCheck back to original founder Kevin Tucker and Silvertree Internet Holdings, Jacques Coetzee asks why the multinational internet and media group would let go of such a fast-growing company. read more Before you can say Phalaenopsis - 9 Nov 2015[Jessica Taylor, Retail Editor (@Biz_Retail)] Coinciding with Retail Congress Africa, Deloitte released its African Powers of Retailing report, the first in what will be an annual series where the professional services firm will track the progress of the top African-listed retail performers on the continent. According to the report, South African retailers have dominated the Africa region, accounting for all 10 of the continent's top 10 retailers. Retail entrepreneurs featuring this week include Johann Vorster of Clover, Master Entrepreneur category winner of the EY World Entrepreneur Awards 2015 and Schalk Nolte, CEO of Entersekt - SA's fintech gem that's making it safe for millions to bank and shop online. SA Florist launched its 'Same-Day All-Day' delivery service called Zoom Bloom. read more Spotlight on Africa - 2 Nov 2015[Jessica Taylor, Retail Editor (@Biz_Retail)] In light of Retail Congress Africa, taking place over the next couple of days, this week features an article on the greater role the government ought to play in order to ease some of the challenges and enable growth in the retail sector. Professor Roger B. read more Hey H&M - 26 Oct 2015[Jessica Taylor, Retail Editor (@Biz_Retail)] Swedish multinational retail-clothing company, H&M has made its eagerly-awaited debut at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, with a Johannesburg outlet scheduled to open 5 November. Zeenat Moorad reports: "With developed economies increasingly saturated and competitive, a tide of investment has shifted over the past five years into population-dense emerging markets like SA, where aspirant consumers present an avenue of potential growth. read more I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream… and frappuccinos - 19 Oct 2015[Jessica Taylor, Retail Editor (@Biz_Retail)] Optimistic about growth demand in the ice cream category, Unilever has invested R600m in a state-of-the-art ice cream factory. Located in Midrand, the factory is one of 40 Unilever ice cream factories across the globe, and sets new standards in green and low-cost manufacturing in accordance with the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan. Franchise specialist Taste Holdings has confirmed plans for a rights issue to raise R226m to fund the expansion of the recently acquired Starbucks coffee chain licence for South Africa, as well as growth initiatives at its jewellery franchising hub, reports Business Day. read more Krispy Kreme is almost here, need I say more - 12 Oct 2015[Jessica Taylor, Retail Editor (@Biz_Retail)] The long-awaited announcement by Krispy Kreme of its South Africa launch date and location happened this week. From 25 November 2015, The Zone @ Rosebank in Johannesburg is where you'll get your hands on the world-famous Original Glazed doughnut. read more Games CEOs play - 5 Oct 2015[Jessica Taylor, Retail Editor (@Biz_Retail)] This week saw Ralph Lauren step down as chief executive of the international holding company, with his successor Stefan Larson taking the mallet. Locally, Woolworths Holdings announced the appointment of John Dixon as CEO of David Jones, to replace Iain Nairn from Janurary 2016. Marius Muller, CEO of Pareto, explains the R1.1bn makeover of The Pavilion shopping centre in Durban as announced at the SA Council of Shopping Centres' (SACSC) 19th Annual Congress. read more A love affair with electronics - 28 Sep 2015[Jessica Taylor, Retail Editor (@Biz_Retail)] Despite a slight decline in its performance year-on-year, Woolworths has again topped the RepTrak Pulse reputation survey, with Pick n Pay and Shoprite coming in at a close second and third, respectively. Euromonitor International has released new data on the global consumer electronics industry, indicating that wearable electronics are 'the next big thing', while the dynamic growth of tablets suddenly comes to a standstill. The Innovation Group's latest trend report serves as a snapshot of the latest innovations and what they reveal about the food and drink consumers of the future. read more |
