Celebrating 100 years of catalogued wool sales
[Ivor Markman] When members and guests of BKB Ltd and the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality get together today, Monday 15 September, they will be celebrating 100 years of catalogued wool sales in Port Elizabeth.

Who are the darlings of Gauteng retail?
Avusa Media titles The Times and Sowetan will announce Gauteng's retail darlings at a gala awards celebration to be held at Constitutional Hill, Johannesburg on 30 October 2008. The awards are the grand finale to the recently-launched Clever Shopper initiative, which involves weekly pages on savvy shopping in both The Times and Sowetan and a competition.

Hoodwinked
[Rob Rose] For years, furniture retailers have been duping customers using hidden fees and insurance, now it's coming back to bite them as regulators close in.

Embassies 'used for smuggling'
[Sibongakonke Shoba] Authorities are struggling to prevent counterfeit goods entering South Africa as criminals are using embassies to smuggle the products into the country.

Consumer relief as crude oil price fall below $100 a barrel
[Luyanda Makapela] Consumers, hard-hit by high energy and food prices, could soon breathe a sigh of relief as the crude oil prices fell below $100 a barrel for the first time in five months this week.

Food, fuel crisis has resulted in less development aid
The rising costs of food, fuel and finance has resulted in reduced development aid to emerging economies, says Finance Minister Trevor Manuel.

Woolworths workers gear up for another strike
The South African Catering and Commercial Workers Union (Saccawu) is preparing for "full blown" strike action against Woolworths, demanding union recognition.

Wally on the road to full recovery - The Heart and Stroke Foundation SA
Waldemar Katze, affectionately known as Wally to the many South Africans who followed his story in the build-up to the world's first-ever live television broadcast of open heart surgery, is on the road to making a full recovery.

Central bank dispels fears of dollarisation
[Dumisani Ndlela] The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has unveiled a foreign currency-denominated strategic commodities imports bond (SCIB), while also opening up the scarcity-ridden domestic market to trading in foreign currency.

Bank launches online purchase facility for debit cards
Nedbank is pioneering a service that will enable the public to make internet-based Maestro and Electron debit card transactions safely.

KWV celebrates 90-year heritage
[ActivRetail] This year, KWV celebrates 90 years of existence. To commemorate this momentous occasion KWV is hosting a series of celebratory events throughout the country. Recently, the first two were held in Port Elizabeth and Durban. Members of the trade, media, consumers and friends were invited to be a part of this historical celebration.


Something special for your pets
Your pet provides you with loyal companionship and unconditional love every day of the year, in sickness and in health, for better or worse. What better way to return that affection by indulging them with delectable and most luxurious food?


Local olive oil shines in Italy
[ActivRetail] Willow Creek Estate has once again done South Africa proud in international olive oil circles. Its flagship Directors' Reserve received an honourable mention and its Extra Virgin Oil earned a distinction at the L'Orciolo d'Oro olive oil competition in Italy.

Rebrand pays off
Last winter, the fictional ad agency on SABC1's soapie, Generations, pitched for and won the Pep business and presented the retail chain's new tagline: “Best prices and more.” Off air and in reality, consumers saw the new campaign played out in-store (as featured on Generations).

Globe swap campaign brings power to the people
Eskom has joined forces with Game stores across the country to offer energy-conscious shoppers the chance to swap their standard light bulbs for power-saving globes at minimal cost.


New iPods fail to impress investors
[Jordan Robertson and Jessica Mintz] With all the hype preceding its invitation-only media event on Tuesday, Apple needed to come up with a bigger wow factor than it delivered if it wanted to please investors. Steve Jobs seemed happy enough, though. In addition to presenting the company's new toys, he crowed about astronomical sales at the App Store and joked about Bloomberg's accidental publication of his obituary.

Google to give newspaper morgues new life online
Google's plan to digitize old newspaper articles may be a shot in the arm for a flailing industry. The newspapers will get a share of the revenue generated by ads appearing next to their archived material, which will be presented in its original format.

Bidco brings Fortune to Ugandans
[Walter Wafula] Bidco, a major edible oil producer in Uganda, has added Fortune to its product assortment, offering Ugandans more choice in the market. The unveiling of Fortune to locals in Kampala was held on 6 September 2008.

Thinking global, acting local - Gloria Jean's Coffees
Gloria Jean's Coffees, the world's second largest gourmet coffee company, has partnered with six-year-old local family-owned business, The Chilla Beverage Company, to bring consumers exciting and refreshing new product flavours available exclusively at all Gloria Jean's Coffees outlets this summer.

Protecting inkjet printers for longer
Lexmark South Africa has announced that from 22 September 2008, the company will extend its guarantee period for the home, student and professional inkjet printer range. The Professional Series product range consists of four multifunction printers priced between R999 and R2199 and will include a five-year guarantee. The Home and Student range consists of five single and multifunctional printers priced between R799 and R1299 and will include a three-year guarantee. The guarantee includes free product replacement during the period and lifetime phone support from the company's technical helpline. Customers are required to register online with Lexmark to activate their guarantee. Only Lexmark's Basic and Home User range of printers, aimed at the home user that does occasional printing, will be covered by a one-year guarantee.

Shearing shed opens to help rural farmers
[Luyanda Makapela] The Eastern Cape Department of Agriculture will officially open the Masikhule Shearing Shed today, 10 September, where farmers in the area will be given assistance in shearing their sheep and dipping their animals against diseases.

Primedia staff hit the streets in support of The Big Issue - The Big Issue
Dressed in bright red raincoats and huddled beneath red umbrellas, KFM 94.5 employees braved the cold, wet weather recently when they partnered with The Big Issue to sell the magazine. They were seen on the corner of Paradise Road and the M3, in Claremont.

e-Commerce surprises: The thrill of anticipation
[Alyson Ward] Everybody loves a surprise, right? Ok, almost everyone. In any case, there are a good handful of websites that offer ways to surprise a friend - or yourself - with a grab bag-like package. In many cases, the cost is less than you normally would pay, and there's the surprise factor that makes it all worthwhile.

California wine to flow through Amazon
[Jeff Meisner] USA: Internet retail giant Amazon.com is muscling into the wine industry. The company plans to start selling wine from California's Napa Valley and other wine-producing regions in the US later this year.

Online auctions, Part 2: The eBay diaspora
[Jim Offner] As eBay shifts its strategy to appeal more to larger sellers, it risks alienating the clientele that made it a success. However, the company is making changes and working toward a strategy it hopes will lead to growth, and that's better than doing nothing, say experts.

Online auctions, Part 1: The eBay earthquake
[Jim Offner] Has eBay outgrown the business model that led to its phenomenal success? The company stalwartly maintains that its new fee structure and other changes are designed to benefit all of its sellers - as well as buyers - but its so-called evolution has triggered the exodus of many mom-and-pop operations.

Countdown to first annual Kenya Trade Fair and Conference begins
The first annual Kenya Trade Fair and Conference, taking place 19 - 21 September 2008 at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, is a few days away. South African businesses will be able to engage with a host of Kenyan government and business stakeholders.


Soweto Wine Festival overflows
This year, 4635 wine enthusiasts flocked to the fourth annual 2008 Standard Bank Soweto Wine Festival weekend held recently at the University of Johannesburg, in what is being hailed as a major success by festival organisers, sponsors, exhibitors and visitors alike.

Osizweni Score converts to PnP family store
Graduate of the Pick n Pay Retail Academy, Mlungisi Maziya, and PnP veteran Conrad Thatcher, who started his career with the retail group in Newcastle 20 years ago, have joined forces to own and manage the group's first family franchise store in Osizweni, KwaZulu-Natal.

New emporium devoted to food-lovers
New hospitality development, Epicurean Food Emporium, is set to launch in late 2008. This universal concept is a first for South Africa, Cape Town, and aims to set a new benchmark in the food hospitality and retail market.

Volkswagen to halt SEAT imports
Volkswagen of South Africa is to discontinue new SEAT vehicle sales operations by the end of this year.

Car maker calls for consensus
[Siya Miti] Volkswagen South Africa has sounded alarm bells as the ongoing automotive labour action in the Eastern Cape looks set to gain momentum and disrupt its production.

If you package it, will she buy?
[JoAnn Hines] Women make or influence 85% of the purchasing decisions in today's marketplace. Consumer goods companies are finally waking up to that fact. Unfortunately, just taking the man off the box and replacing it with a woman is not the answer. Nor is it to use pink or other traditionally feminine colours for the packaging.

Reducing corrugated consumption - four ways to get more from less
Cutting down on wastage makes good sense in any company; it makes even more sense when there are multiple benefits.

Ten innovative packaging ideas
It was Peter Drucker, the leading business thinker of the 20th century, who said that business has two functions - marketing and innovation. This article is going to merge both these ideas.

Making the right sponsorship choices
Measuring the financial return on sponsorships is of huge importance, not least because of the large sums of investment required for the most prestigious opportunities. Yet, surprisingly, many global sponsors still use relatively basic methods to assess the benefits of sponsorships and the value they may (or may not) bring to the bottom line. This article considers how to get closer to measuring true sponsorship ROI.

Doing business in Africa
Doing Business 2009: Record year for regulatory reform in Africa - Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Botswana make key improvements; Mauritius ranks highest in region on ease of Doing Business.

US FDA calls for tougher warnings on TNF-alpha drugs on 240 cases of histoplasmosis
US regulators are calling for stronger label warnings on tumour necrosis factor-alpha drugs as they increase the risk of fungal infections.

The top 10 lead generation mistakes by professional services
[John Doerr for AccountingWeb] Leads, leads, leads. It seems it is all about leads once the referrals and the circle of family and friends aren't enough to keep our firms growing. Yet, when it comes to generating leads, most professional services firms get it all wrong in 10 very common ways.

The challenge is to spend reduced ad budgets wisely
According to a recent survey from the Association of National Advertisers in the US, 53% of marketers from a broad cross-section of categories and industries expect their advertising budgets to be reduced in the next six months as a result of the tough economic climate, and 87% of those polled are already being challenged to find cost savings or reductions within current marketing and advertising efforts.

New children's advertising code welcomed
The new regulations governing advertising to children have finally come out and Bizcommunity.com has asked various advertising and marketing agencies for their comment and analysis. In the first in this series of articles, the overall impression, according to Draftfcb, is that the spirit of the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa's code appears to be sound.

Dialing up an effective call centre startup plan
[Jennifer Heldt Powell] USA: The founders of GotVMail, who were students when they started their company, found a smart way to get the startup off the ground without going after investors - they included their vendors as partners, cutting deals that would let them launch on the cheap.

The long wait for mobile CRM: Are we there yet?
[Erika Morphy] Is mobile CRM just around the next bend? If a slew of new applications for the iPhone are any indication, it may have jumped from the realm of wishful thinking to concrete possibility - but "possibility" is still the operative word.

Cutting prices for the future
[Rob Rose] Last month Ellerines' new owner, African Bank Investments Limited (Abil), took a group of analysts for a trip down “misery mile” in Voortrekker Street, Alberton, south of Johannesburg.

Steinhoff pleased with overseas results
Furniture retailer Steinhoff says its foray into overseas markets is finally beginning to pay off with the group having turned around its UK business and consolidated its European Union (EU) investments.

Toys against the tide
As many retailers face hard times, Redgwoods, the toys group, is expanding and is to open eight stores in eight weeks.

How holograms can stop counterfeiting
Sophisticated replication techniques have made counterfeiting and fraud a serious threat to the pharmaceutical and medical industry—and to the suppliers to the sector, like packaging companies.

Coming soon: New ID security rules
[Andrew K. Burger] USA: Financial institutions have until 1 November to comply with a revised set of rules under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act, also known as Facta. EMC and its RSA security division have developed software that helps ensure compliance.

Mpuma commercial forestry suffers R100m damage
[Sydney Masinga] The commercial forestry industry in Mpumalanga has recorded losses of R100 million following 15,000 hectares of plantations being destroyed on the recent wildfires.

Farmers to receive aid after wildfire damage
[Siphiwe Nyathi] Farmers who suffered damage in the recent wildfires in the Waterberg district municipality in Limpopo will receive free fodder to help them get back on their feet.

Getting intimate (with customers) on Twitter
[Shel Israel] Depending on whom you ask, Twitter is either an inane waste of time or a brilliant communications coup. For those in customer service, it can prove to be truly amazing - a way to keep in direct contact with customers without any other distractions.

Greening your business: every little bit counts
[Roger Strain] As humans get ever more conscious of the fact that we need to change the way we work, eat, live and consume - not just for the sake of the environment but for our own survival - organisations are under increasing pressure to use energy more efficiently. But it's not just new gadgets and new design techniques that will make the difference. When you turn an energy-conscious eye on any business, there are many small changes to make that can add up to big impacts. Even customer relationship management (CRM), my own area of expertise, has a contribution to make.


Can carbon trading spur growth?
Dakar: Hundreds attending the first all-African carbon forum agreed entrepreneurs in Africa need cash to break into the expanding international carbon emissions trading market.

The Google domination
[Naseem Javed] Frankly speaking, stop the guesswork and open heartedly accept that it's Google's turn now, as the next decade clearly belongs to Google. Best not to resist and go with the flow.

Samsung sets sights on SanDisk
Samsung Electronics is pursuing an acquisition of US computer memory card maker SanDisk, a South Korean online business newspaper has reported.

Workshops to help small business
[Siphiwe Nyathi] Workshops will be held in Limpopo this week to explain how small businesses can access support from government.