Top story this week was the announcement by Woolworths of its decision to remove all sweets and chocolates from its checkout aisles. The roll-out will start with all new Woolworths stores, as well as large format stores. The retailer also announced 'strong' annual results, including David Jones for the first time.

Bringing our Women's Month special section to a close, I interview Zyda Rylands on her foodie journey from growing up as a fisherman's daughter to her current role as MD at Woolworths Food.

According to data released during the run-up to Pick n Pay's AGM, more than half of those aged 15-25 in South Africa are jobless and one-third of food produced in the country is wasted. Richard Brasher explains how the retailer's War on Waste campaign strives to resolve these issues.

Dave Nemeth explains why local retailers need to up their game, commenting on the opening of Hamleys at the Greenstone Mall in Edenvale, Gauteng. Then Aki Kalliatakis explains why dedicated salary earners stay wage slaves and why small-time entrepreneurs stay small-timers. He says that "to make bigger profits, you need to spend time thinking about the bigger picture." He offers 12 tips.

As far as retail marketing is concerned, Erik de Jager and Cole Matthews share their two cents on the McWhopper campaign, while HaveYouHeard announces that Facebook communities can now rate their performance against industry benchmarks.

Jessica Taylor, Retail Editor (@Biz_Retail)
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