Peter Harvey, an e-commerce entrepreneur and managing director of DPO South Africa, is bidding farewell to the DPO Group at the end of February 2022. Harvey founded PayGate in 1999 and managed the company's merger with the DPO Group in 2016 and PayFast in 2019. 22 Feb 2022
South African beauty distributor Sunpac has partnered with small business owner Thokozile Mangwiro and invested in her natural haircare brand Nilotiqa. 22 Feb 2022
JSE-listed consumer packaged goods group Libstar, which owns brands including Denny mushrooms, Lancewood and Goldcrest, has entered into a deal to sell a 70% controlling stake in its household and personal care business to Pape Fund Managers and Kanaka Chemicals for R174.6m. 21 Feb 2022
E-commerce uptake hit its stride during the Covid-19 pandemic, as digital services served as a lifeline by enabling people to continue their daily activities. Global market research company Euromonitor International expects e-commerce penetration to be permanently elevated as more consumers are ordering goods for home delivery than ever before. 21 Feb 2022
The Covid-19 lockdowns sparked a massive digital transformation that is in full spate. For retailers, as for many businesses, there has been a decided shift online and, clearly, digital expertise and presence are now critical to a retailer's profitability and ability to survive. 18 Feb 2022
Wish, one of the world's largest mobile e-commerce platforms, has unveiled Wish Clips, a new shoppable video feature designed to enhance the customer experience and simplify the path to purchase. The company said the new feature aims to tap into the growing demand for immersive content. 18 Feb 2022
Source: Reuters/Mike Hutchings
South African fashion retailer Truworths International Ltd reported a 32.2% increase in half-year profit on Thursday, sending its shares up more than 8% as its business recovered to pre-pandemic levels due to eased restrictions. 18 Feb 2022
Sportswear brand Olympic is relaunching in South Africa with a refreshed brand and product offering following low visibility over the last decade. The initial range of Olympic products will focus on the running and football categories. 17 Feb 2022
Consumer goods company Mars Africa, owner of brands including Pedigree, Whiskas, Snickers and Orbit, has reopened its newly-renovated local head office in Woodmead, Johannesburg that now houses a new 'pet office' so that employees can bring their dogs to work. 17 Feb 2022
Consumer consumption has long evolved beyond its primary functional purpose of serving consumers' most basic human needs in Maslow's hierarchy. This has positioned marketing as a central protagonist in presenting the mass scale consumption of goods and services since the late 20th century as an elemental - rather than purely epiphenomenal - characteristic of society, as suggested in Peter Corrigan's book, Sociology of Consumption (1997). 17 Feb 2022
Stats SA reports that South Africa's retail trade sales increased by 3.1% year-on-year in December 2021. 17 Feb 2022
Alcohol industry associations Beer Association of South Africa (Basa) and the South African Liquor Brandowners Association (Salba) have echoed SAB's call for a measured approach towards excise tax increases ahead of the Budget Speech on 23 February. 16 Feb 2022
Source: Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
On Wednesday, 16 February Tiger Brands reported a 1% fall in first-quarter revenue and said it plans more price increases in the second quarter to help ease pressure on margins at South Africa's largest food producer. 16 Feb 2022
South African coatings company Plascon has launched a new B2B e-commerce platform, called Plascon Store, that's tailor-made for retailers and contractors. The company markets the new platform as "the coating industry's first-ever business-to-business e-commerce platform that streamlines trade retail". 16 Feb 2022
Source: Spar
In a trading update for the 18 weeks to end January 2022, retailer Spar announced that its consumer-facing e-commerce delivery platform Spar2U will be available in Johannesburg in March 2022. 16 Feb 2022
There are certain things in life that are regarded as universal truths. Benjamin Franklin for instance famously said, "In this world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes". Snacking, and the role it has played in providing comfort and a sense of normalcy during the pandemic, has more recently emerged as another. 15 Feb 2022
The team behind Bernini - SA's much loved and only Natural Sparkling Grape Frìzzante - has recently launched their new #WeAreWomen campaign aimed at driving female empowerment, in partnership with their new brand ambassador, Linda Mtoba, and a squad of South African Glow Getters. 15 Feb 2022
Source: Dis-Chem
Pharmacy retailer Dis-Chem has reported positive revenue growth of 15.3% to R12.7bn for the 21 weeks between 1 September 2021 to 26 January 2022. 15 Feb 2022
Source: Distell
About 56% of Distell shareholders have voiced their support for the proposed deal that will see global brewer Heineken acquire the maker of Savanna, Hunter's Gold and Amarula, and delist it from the JSE - assuming the regulatory boxes are ticked. 15 Feb 2022
Beverage giant The Coca-Cola Company, often named among the globe's top plastic polluters in the past, has made plans to boost its use of reusable packaging. The company has announced that by 2030, it aims to have at least 25% of all beverages globally across its portfolio of brands sold in refillable/returnable glass or plastic bottles, or in refillable containers through traditional fountain or Coca-Cola Freestyle dispensers. 14 Feb 2022
Let's do Biz