Santa's gift to SA retailers
South African retailers painted a rosy picture for the Christmas trading period despite forecasts that they would face the bleakest festive sales season in nearly two decades.

Another dismal month for car sales
New vehicle sales in December dropped by a dismal 27.1% which is 12,162 less than the corresponding month in 2007.

Fuel retailers not happy about drop
Fuel retailers with excess stock find themselves between a rock and a hard place when fuel prices plummet as they have no choice but to sell the fuel at a loss, according to the Fuel Retailers' Association.

12 million sold and still going strong
Mercedes-Benz has delivered 1.5 million units of the current E-Class series since the model's market launch six years ago.

Motorists to smile as fuel price takes a dive
The combination of a strengthening Rand and weakening crude oil price is boding well for South African motorists with the price of fuel set to drop substantially at midnight on Tuesday.

Nine mega branding opportunities of 2009
[Naseem Javed] Here is a look at the opportunities on offer in 2009... There will be prospects for new brands, for quality to shine, and a great deal more.

MMA announces election of South Africa Local Council co-chairmen
Ahmed Ismail Kajee joins Rick Joubert to lead local activity.

Credit crisis spurs financial institutions to invest in operational risk technology
[Damian Shaw-Williams] In response to evolving market conditions, global financial institutions are beginning to view operational risk (OpRisk) as a means of providing a more proactive management decision-making framework, as opposed to seeing it purely as compliance and reporting function.

Cellphone banking soars despite economic downturn
While the world is still speculating whether cellphone banking will be the next big thing, First National Bank says it has positioned itself to be progressive in its adoption of the technology and claims that around 2,500 new customers a day are now adopting their various interactive cellphone banking offerings across its Southern African subsidiaries.

Tears as UK retail icon shuts doors
It's the end of an era as a British retail institution closed its doors on a century of trading as the latest victim of the financial crisis shut down the last of its stores.

US investor dumps Ford stake
US billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian decides to get rid of his Ford Motor Co shares.

New airline for SA?
According to eTurboNews, barring last minute hitches, South Africa‘s skies may soon be seeing a new tailfin. According to TravelHub, the new domestic carrier will be based in Durban and will be called Airtime Airlines. It is due to take to the sky on January 18, from Durban to Johannesburg. Read the full article here. - www.eturbonews.com

US holiday e-commerce down
US online retail spending shows first decline after eight years of growth.

Dubai Shopping Festival 2009
The Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF 2009), from 15 January to 15 February is set to provide shopping bargains, raffles, promotions, concerts, carnivals and more with over 2,000 retailers and 40 shopping malls including the recently opened Dubai Mall, now the largest mall in the world participating in the festival.

Fashion week to be held early
Despite the credit crunch being faced by retailers — and figures that are expected to show a bleak festive season — the Audi Joburg Fashion Week has been moved from March to this month.

SAACI conference to take meetings industry to task
The 2009 national conference of the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI) will be held at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria, 26 - 28 July 2009.

Restaurants having a bumper season
[Siya Miti] In recent days, there has been a late rush by shoppers and most people agree the season generally started later this year.

Investment in African Agenda tops SA, Sweden meeting
Deputy President Baleka Mbete met her Swedish counterpart Deputy Prime Minister Maud Olofsson, Monday morning, to build support for investment in the African Agenda.

Zimbabweans urged to buy basics in SA
Zimbabweans told it is cheaper to go to South Africa to buy basic commodities.

New rules require fumigation of wood packaging entering Taiwan
Taiwan's quarantine authorities reiterated Sunday that from this year, all wood materials used for packaging imported goods entering Taiwan must be accompanied by proof that they have been fumigated or heat-treated.

Zimbabwe: Call to suspend diamonds from the Kimberley Process
Civil society is calling for the suspension of Zimbabwe from the Kimberley Process, an international certification scheme to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the multibillion dollar market.

Panasonic cuts manufacturing, pushes sales
[Sachi Izumi and Rhee So-eui] Japanese electronics maker Panasonic will cut its investment in two new flat-screen TV plants by about US$1.5 billion and exit unprofitable businesses as the global economic slump slices into its profits.

Shoppers ignore two thirds of packages on shelves
Manufacturers spend millions on their packaging designs to ensure that their products will be noticed by shoppers - but are they?

The legal aspects of package design as a marketing tool
Design features can have a secondary meaning by delivering a visual-recognition message to consumers for the product and its source.


Is it getting harder for packaged brands to seem authentic?
[David Bellm] I recently started reading the book Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want, by II Pine, James H. Gilmore, and B. Joseph. Although there are other books on the subject of authenticity and what it means to branding efforts, I have to say that this is certainly among the best on the topic.

Giving today's youth a brighter tomorrow
Trinco tea is launching an on-pack promotion which places the brand firmly behind the education of the youth of South Africa, with the aim of providing them with a brighter future.

Be creative, become a bounty hunter
Idea Bounty and FNB Premier Banking have announced their first winner - of $2500 no less. Guillaume Martin answered FNB's call to come up with an innovative new way to promote switching customers to Online Banking and was chosen as the ultimate winner.

Foodcorp responds to Competition Commission charges
Food manufacturer and distributor Fodor (Foodcorp) will not contest recent bread price fixing charges brought against the company by the Competition Commission. However, the company categorically denies taking part in any market division activity.

Foodcorp fined for fixing
[Michael Appel] In the latest incident of price collusion among South African companies, Foodcorp (Pty) Ltd have reached an agreement with the Competition Commission to pay a penalty of R45.4 million.

Clamp-down on stolen goods market
Stringent measures to enforce the Second-Hand Goods Act are aimed at curbing sales of stolen goods.

FDA mandates increased warnings for epilepsy drugs, stops short of issuing black box
The U.S. FDA has increased label warnings for epilepsy drugs, noting the increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviours, after a panel review earlier this year.

Natural and organic consumers not giving up
A Mambo Sprouts Marketing survey in the United States forecasts 2009 buying trends: organic still important but cost consciousness on the rise during recession.

Year-on-year average house price deflation deepens
The FNB House Price Index continued its worsening year-on-year percentage change trend in December, to record its second month of average price deflation by this measure to the tune of -1.7%.

80-20? Forget it
CMO Council research finds 80-20 rule obsolete: today's consumer product market is anything but mass.

Circuit City courts 'interested parties'
Circuit City is discussing a sale to two "interested parties," but its bankruptcy case is continuing, with liquidation still being considered as a final option. The company asked the bankruptcy court this week to approve its sale as a going concern, either as a whole or in parts.

Massmart sales to December up 13%
Wholesale retailer Massmart on Thursday said that sales over the 26 weeks to December 28 rose 13.2% to R22.8-billion compared with same time a year ago, with 12-month rolling inflation estimated at 9.9%.

PnP 'not disappointed' with seasonal sales
Pick n Pay is not disappointed with festive season sales, saying consumers showed "amazing resilience" under difficult conditions, with sales exceeding forecasts.

UK's Marks & Spencer to cut up to 1 230 jobs
British retailer plans to close 27 stores and shed more than 1000 jobs.

Woolworths UK to close quarter of stores
UK's Woolworths moves closer to fading into the sunset.

Farmers urged to be on alert for infestations
A warning has been sent to all farmers in the Northern Cape's locust infested areas to be on the alert for repeated infestations in large parts of the province during this weekend.

Semiconductor sales slump
Worldwide semiconductor sales fell almost 10% compared with the same month last year.

Boost for search for solar solutions
Johannesburg-based solar power specialist Home Comfort has been granted a R2,3-million loan by E+Co, an investment that will be utilised to grow the company's solar business.


You can have a say in how computers are designed
It's time to re-imagine your mobile computer. What features, functions, and attributes do you want to change in the next generation of computers?