| | | A rose by any other name... | I got a cunning offer the other day: I could become the fractional owner of a choice piece of property. "So explain 'fractional ownership' to me," I suggested. "Well it means that you and a number of other people all own equal fractions – shares – of the property. Then you work out a roster between all of you and take turns at staying there. It's a great scheme." "It's time-share," I said. "No, it's fractional ownership," she said. And so we went on, eventually agreeing to disagree. There are differences – I think – but my point is that at the end of the day, the nuts-and-bolts result is they are essentially the same... You and the other members of your group of co-owners get to spend ‘X' number of days or weeks at the holiday home or whatever and by agreement with the others, you can swap times and seasons. And that to me is essentially what time-share is. I have often wondered about the use of words and descriptions... In the retail motor-vehicle sales industry what used to be a 'second-hand' vehicle is now a 'pre-owned' vehicle – which could perhaps be more accurate since the former tends to suggest only one former owner, whereas the latter could mean anything from one former owner to enough to make up an entire rugby team. Obviously, a completely new concept demands a description that describes it fully and clearly and sets it apart from anything that came before, but I reckon in many cases, a rose by any other name is still pretty much... a rose. And either way, fractional me won't be taking my time to share...
Rod Baker, Content Manager: Send your news to: retailnews@bizcommunity.com; or visit https://www.bizcommunity.com.
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| | Headlines | Introducing the APEX judges
Just Gooi it!
Top corporate financier to speak at Nederburg Auction
From computer screens to sales
Great Wine Capitals' call for entries
Understanding the Consumer Protection Bill
Moms get an inside look at MacDonald's
Wine Spectator applauds auction lineup
Local Marula festival to take tips from Oktoberfest
Compass Group SA achieves international ISO 9001 certification
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Retail | | Introducing the APEX judges
The Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) has announced a 14 member judging panel, chaired by renowned marketing and advertising consultant Andy Rice, to judge the 2008 Advertising Performance Excellence Awards (APEX).
Top corporate financier to speak at Nederburg Auction
In yet another break with tradition, this year's Nederburg Auction, taking place in spring for the first time in the 33-year history of the event, will be featuring two keynote speakers. The managing director of the Rioja Wine Exporters' Association, Tom Perry, will be joined by Mutle Mogase to address the guests on Saturday, 29 September 2007.
1st2c CGM report: The Whole Foods case study
The unwritten rules of consumer-marketer interaction on the Internet's social media have recently been fire-tested and there's something to be learnt out of this experience for every marketer.
Great Wine Capitals' call for entries
As wine tourism becomes an increasingly important driver of the local economy, generating well over R5 billion in annual revenue, wineries are being urged to enter the 2007 Great Wine Capitals Global Network Best Of Awards.
Wine Spectator applauds auction lineup
 The 2007 lineup of the Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild Auction to be held in Somerset West on Saturday, 6 October, has excelled at a blind tasting by Wine Spectator in New York, with 25 wines attaining the venerable score of 90 points or more in its infamous 100-point scale.
From computer screens to sales
Holidays are a big gift to small businesses who know how to tap into seasonal spending spikes. According to a recent Advertising.com forecast, the 2007 holiday buying season will be strong. The holiday season no longer starts in the fourth quarter of the year. Consumers are beginning their shopping earlier and earlier.
Local Marula festival to take tips from Oktoberfest
[Gcina Ntsaluba] A Limpopo delegation has jetted off to the world's biggest beer festival, the Oktoberfest in Germany, to learn the secret of its success.
Where fashion and wine flow
 Klûk CGDT, the partnership of Malcolm Klûk and Christiaan Gabriel du Toit, will be featured in this year's Nederburg Auction Spring/Summer collection showing at Paarl on 29 September. The fashion show will mark the grand finale to the auction, in which 150 top name wine labels will come under the hammer of Stephan Welz.
On the couch with Marcel Weickl
 Marcel Weickl, long-standing employee of the CN Business Furniture Group, has been appointed to the position of national product development manager.
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Banking & Finance | | Online billing, Part 2: Problems and possibilities
[Jack M. Germain] Regardless of which online bill paying method is selected, consumers have to pay attention to monthly statements and changing circumstances. It is easy to lose track of things after completing the one-time setup. For instance, one danger in using electronic bill paying's automatic pay feature is not noticing an interest rate increase in a credit card or adjustable mortgage account.
Online billing, Part 1: Leaving the paper trail behind
[Jack M. Germain] Perhaps the most significant savings that paperless billing could achieve would benefit the environment directly. Electronic bills would cut down on the consumption of trees. If all US households viewed and paid their bills online, the reduction in paper would save 16.5 million trees a year, according to a recent report published by Javelin Strategy and Research.
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Brand news | | Just Gooi it!
 Gooi.co.za is the newly launched 'one product, one price, and one day' website. Every day at 12am, a new product will appear on the website, and consumers have either 24 hours to purchase that product that will never be repeated at that price ever again, or until the product is sold out.
Free range milk from the fair Cape
 Cape Town-based dairy, Fair Cape, has converted all its milk products to free range and become the first South African supplier of free range milk.
Low kilojoule juice is pure joy
 Parmalat is splashing out with PureJoy Light, natural blended fruit juice with all the taste of a pure fruit juice, but with fewer kilojoules. The new range comes in four flavours: Cranberry Cherry, Peach Apricot, Ruby Grapefruit and Mango Orange.
Zoom into summer
 The new ZOOM summer website launched at the beginning of September, revealing the season's hottest trends in footwear. Created by award-winning design agency Bittersuite, the site reflects the brand's feminine approach to summer with sun-kissed colours, vibrant design and whimsical details.
Small retailers grow online, study reveals
USA - A growing percentage of revenue generated by small retailers is being derived from eCommerce transactions, and respondents to a nationwide poll conducted by the Small Business Research Board (SBRB) indicate that the trend will continue over the next 12 to 24 months, according to the results of the latest study released on 13 September.
New campaign a shoo-in with fanatics
 Shoe City, the national shoe retailer part of the Pepkor group, has unleashed their latest marketing campaign, coinciding with the roll out of their revamped Shoe City stores as seen in Century City, Cape Town and Fourways, Jo'burg.
Stellenzicht sweeps up six Michelangelo awards
 Stellenzicht, acclaimed Stellenbosch red wine producer, has taken home one Grand d'Or, three gold and two silver medals from the prestigious 2007 Michelangelo International Awards, which took place in Stellenbosch last weekend.
A new alternative in armchair shopping
 Boardmans has launched its first in a series of home catalogues, featuring a range of home merchandise from kitchen appliances to bedroom, bathroom and décor accessories. In a move toward convenient shopping, South Africans can use this guide to shop in three ways: in-store, online or telephonically.
A saucy new squeeze
All Gold has launched a new range of everyday, squeezable sauces in Sweet Chilli, Peri Peri, BBQ, Mustard and 1000 Island flavours. All are packaged in a convenient non-breakable 500ml squeeze bottle with a non-drip, non-clog lid. The All Gold Perfect Squeeze Sauces will be available at supermarkets at a recommended selling price of R14.99.
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Catering | | La Dulcé vita
 Roodepoort resident, Eurika Kuhn, lived the life of the rich and famous for an evening last month - welcoming four close friends into her home to share a privately catered dinner party. Sponsored by Dulcé Café, the evening was the result of a prize Kuhn won after she entered a competition featured in local woman's e-zine, Fe-Mail.
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Consumer research | | The consumer message board: Embrace the beast
[Paul Korzeniowski] Rather than travel down legal roads, a growing number of companies are trying to engage in a dialogue with their online constituents. Many are setting up their own message boards and blogs to gather customer feedback. In addition to putting the software in place, companies hire full-time or part-time monitors, individuals who examine the comments and report back to management what customers are saying.
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Distribution | | Dell digs to China for retail gold
[Keith Regan] Dell is taking to the streets in China, where it will sell PCs on store shelves through a deal with the country's vast Gome electronics chain. In a move to bump HP from the no. 1 PC-maker throne that Dell once occupied, CEO Michael Dell has instituted an aggressive turnaround strategy with retail sales as its centerpiece.
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Franchising | | New sparkle in Sandton City
Cartier, the French jeweller, will open its first South African boutique in Sandton City this October. For the last 15 years, only watches and some of Cartier accessories have been available on the South African market. The opening of the boutique will give local customers access to the full collection, and for the first time, Cartier jewellery. Other luxury products include leather goods, fragrances, writing instruments, lighters and eyewear.
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Health & Safety | | Compass Group SA achieves international ISO 9001 certification
 Compass Group SA's Safety Health & Environment (SHE) shared support service team recently achieved ISO 9001, an international quality management certification. This was awarded after the team formalised all processes utilised to support the various units across the business.
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Import/Export | | Vast opportunities for SA in West Africa
South Africa is looking to realise the vast opportunities and huge potential for mutually-beneficial growth with West Africa, home to some of the world's top oil producers such as Nigeria, writes Shaun Benton. Indeed, Nigeria-South Africa trade relations are dominated by SA's imports of crude oil from Nigeria, with the value of oil imports from the populous West African nation amounting to R5 billion in 2006. However, Mxolisi Nkosi, the deputy director-general in the Africa Bilateral section in the Department of Foreign Affairs, is looking to increase trade relations and the transfer of skills and technology with its continental neighbours. Read the full article on www.bizcommunity.com.
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Packaging | | Jimi Hendrix - a liquid experience
 The legendary Jimi Hendrix left the music world awestruck by his talent, and shocked by his untimely death. Given his iconic stature, any product aspiring to bear his name had to live up to his larger-than-life legacy. So, when Beverage Concepts LLC licensed the name Jimi Hendrix for its new energy drink, an aluminum bottle manufactured by CCL Container was chosen for its unique, standout packaging.
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Promotions | | YouNeverCall from the moon
 Online cellphone superstore YouNeverCall has announced a US$10 000 prize award for the first cellphone call placed from the moon. This follows on the coattails of Google's announcement of US$30 million (total) in prize money for landing a privately funded craft on the moon by 31 December 2014.
Staying afoot of trends
Nine West recently launched its Summer 2007 line; and with the help of Primall Media, is raising brand awareness with its nationwide advertising campaign. Striking graphics displayed in prime positions in major shopping centres attract attention and inform shoppers of Nine West's new stock in-store and special offers available. Melissa Mussett, brand executive at The House of Busby, said the company chose this advertising channel as it's an effective way to communicate with customers while they are in an environment where their purchase decision can be influenced.
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Regulatory | | Stricter smoking laws passed
South African lawmakers gave their final seal of approval on Thursday to legislation which will make it harder for smokers to indulge their habit in the open air, at home or in their cars.
Papsak wine is no longer on tap
[Lavinia Mahlangu] It's officially the end of the party for papsak wine, following the publication of amendments to the Liquor Products Act of 1989.
Understanding the Consumer Protection Bill
When the Consumer Protection Bill becomes law it will not only boost the rights of consumers but will have a significant impact on the way traders, retailers and suppliers can do business.
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Retail services | | Wirelessly streamlining customer services
[Joe McGrogan] Wireless mobility helps floor supervisors solve customer problems in real time without the need to put customers on hold or call them back once they've retrieved the necessary information. Floor supervisors can be more efficient, thus decreasing call time, by moving about the office to perform supportive tasks and actively engage with agents.
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Supply chain | | Moms get an inside look at MacDonald's
USA - McDonald's is opening its doors to the Moms' Quality Correspondents, offering them an unprecedented look at the company's produce and supply chain.
Zimbabwean farmer grows UK's first white sweetcorn
Zimbabwean farmer, David Mwanaka, has provided supermarket chain Sainsbury's with the first ever UK white sweetcorn. Usually grown in America, the white sweetcorn is sweeter than its yellow cousin; however this crop has been cultivated in the unlikely setting of rural Enfield, London. Read the full article on www.bizcommunity.com
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Technology | | Microsoft lets Vista users trade down to XP
[Erika Morphy] Less than a year after its much-ballyhooed rollout of Vista, Microsoft is giving in to the demands of manufacturers and business users who want to switch back to the XP operating system (OS).
Wooing B2B buyers: The search is far from over
[Dana Gardner] There's still a lot of back and forth: Offline factors influence online activity, and vice versa, for a merging of the online and the offline worlds. In an audio podcast discussion, as well as the accompanying BriefingsDirect multimedia video podcast, I helped plumb the depths of Enquiro's findings and then vetted them through the experiences of B2B search engine ZoomInfo.
HP's Blackbird flies
Dell's XPS desktop has had an impressive run. Like the Dodge Viper, it blended many aspects of a high-end gaming system with the quality and controls of a volume-based PC company. While incredibly powerful, the XPS is a little raw when compared with Hewlett-Packard's Blackbird. If XPS is a Dodge Viper, the Blackbird is more like a Corvette in that it is both very powerful and incredibly refined, writes Rob Enderle of TechNewsWorld.
Sony denies rumours of PS3 chip division sale
Sony has denied reports that it will sell its production facilities for advanced chips used in the PlayStation 3 to Toshiba for nearly 100 billion yen (US$864 million).
iPhone says 'Allo to UK
[Walaika Haskins] The iPhone's arrival on UK shores became imminent Tuesday as Apple revealed that O2 will be the device's official carrier for the area, confirming widespread speculation. The price for the device in the UK will be about US$542 - less than the iPhone's price when it debuted stateside, but significantly more than Americans currently pay. It will hit UK shelves on 9 November, little more than five months after its US launch.
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| | Events to diarise | Consumer Protection Bill - Cape Town, 28 September
Traders, retailers and suppliers wanting to know more about the implications of the Bill can attend this workshop which will explain the obligations of those providing services and products to consumers. | | |
| | Upcoming events | Hospitality Investment Conference - Cape Town, 30 September Hospitality Investment Conference Africa Tourism Business Council of SA - Cape Town, 30 September | More... Submit an event | | |
| | Quotes | | | "Good design keeps the user happy, the manufacturer in the black and the aesthete unoffended." - Raymond Loewy | | "The most important word in the vocabulary of advertising is test. If you pretest your product with consumers, and pretest your advertising, you will do well in the marketplace." - David Ogilvy | | "I base most of my fashion sense on what doesn't itch." - Gilda Radner | | "Money is like a sixth sense - and you can't make use of the other five without it." - William Somerset Maugham | | "The smallest patch of green to arrest the monotony of asphalt and concrete is as important to the value of real estate as streets, sewers and convenient shopping." - James Felt | | More... Submit a Quote | | |
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