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Retail
A whisky sale in Edinburgh, Scotland, earlier this month saw some excellent prices being paid for old and rare malts, which continue to be in great demand. Read more >>
 Brewing giant SABMiller has signed an agreement with its JV partner, Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk), to acquire Vinamilk's 50% interest in SABMiller Vietnam JV Company Limited, the group said today, 20 March 2009. Read more >>
[Neo Semono] Deputy President Baleka Mbete voiced her concerns over the slow ticket sales for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup at press briefing on Thursday, 19 March 2009, and is appealing to Africans to support the event. Read more >>
Post Office honours President with stampNEWSWATCH: The South African Post Office (SAPO) has issued a Presidential stamp to commemorate the dedication made by President Kgalema Motlanthe in the public service, reports BuaNews. It features a photograph of Motlanthe with the country's coat of arms behind him, and was designed by SAPO in-housing design artist, Thea Clemons, who also created former President Mbeki's stamp in 1999 and won an international design competition by designing the stamp for FIFA's 100th anniversary in 2004. Although the stamps will be used as a collectors' item, their intention, said SAPO's chairperson of the board, Vuyo Mahlati, is to be used in day-to-day mailings. The Post Office will print 100,000 stamp sheets having 10 stamps on each, and may be bought countrywide for R2.05.
 [Evan Pickworth] South African retail trade sales at constant (2000) prices for January increased by 1.7% year-on-year (y/y) from a revised drop of 0.2% (-0.1%) in December, figures released on Wednesday, 18 March 2009, by Statistics South Africa show. Read more >>
 The R100m Thornhill Shopping Centre in Polokwane, Limpopo, will be opened next Thursday. Read more >>
[Deborah Yao] USA: Despite the poor economy, Comcast and Sony plan to open a retail store. Read more >>
 [Nicola Mawson] SABMiller, the world's second-largest brewer, has expanded its presence in China by acquiring a brewery in the country's biggest beer-consuming province. Read more >>
Associations
Solidarity has welcomed the SA Reserve Bank's decision to bring forward the date of its meeting for the adjustment of interest rates, the trade union said on Wednesday, 18 March 2009. Read more >>
Banking & Finance
 First National Bank's Commercial arm has now made it possible for SMEs to apply for transactional products, business loans and credit cards online. Read more >>
The National Treasury has assessed the impact of rebasing and re-weighting the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and the changes that will need to be made to the Government's Inflation-Linked Bonds. Read more >>
[Sanchia Temkin] The introduction of a dividends tax is likely to make SA a more attractive foreign investment destination. Read more >>
The Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has decided to hold its regular meetings more often to allow for more effective planning and quicker reactions to changes in the economy. Read more >>
WASHINGTON, DC, USA: The Obama administration on Monday, 16 March 2009, unveiled a plan to help unlock credit for the nation's small businesses, which have generated about 70% of new jobs annually over the past decade. Read more >>
Brand news
Pick n Pay's pilot phase of a wind turbine project recently launched at its regional offices in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape, in a further commitment to reduce its electricity usage by 20% come 2012. Read more >>
 One thing has been constant about Stellenbosch winemaker Martin Meinert's traditional Bordeaux-style red, Devon Crest: change. After numerous name and look alterations, this unsung wine has finally found its niche as the classically styled maverick in the esteemed Meinert collection. Read more >>
[Lesley Stones] Cell C CEO Jeffrey Hedberg has confirmed to staff that he will not be renewing his contract in November, but the US-born turnaround artist has told them that he will remain in SA. Read more >>
BEIJING: China has rejected a plan by Coca-Cola to acquire the nation's top juice maker Huiyuan over fears that it would damage competition, the commerce ministry said this week. Read more >>
[Matti Huuhtanen] Nokia continued its string of unfavorable news with the report Tuesday, 17 March 2009, that it will lay off another 1,700 employees worldwide. The Finland-based maker of mobile devices remains in the No. 1 spot, but lower demand is pushing prices and sales downward. Read more >>
Toshiba set to replace presidentTOKYO: Japan's Toshiba Corp said on Wednesday, 18 March 2009, that it was appointing a younger new president, Norio Sasaki, to take the reins of the loss-making high-tech giant. Sasaki, who is 59 and currently a vice president at Toshiba, will replace 65-year-old Atsutoshi Nishida in June, subject to shareholder approval, the company said in a statement. The electronics and engineering giant is cutting 4,500 jobs and slashing investment as it braces for a net loss of 280 billion yen (US$2.8 billion) in the current financial year to March.
 Distell is launching its cream liqueur, Amarula, in India with a focus on duty-free outlets and high-class hotels. Read more >>
e-Commerce
 In comparison to the massive scale of music in Europe and the United States, the South African music industry, unmistakably crowded with talented musicians, has a poor reputation when it comes to guaranteeing the commercial success of local artists. SA online store, WantItAll, has a passion for music and aims to improve this perception. Read more >>
Exhibitions
[Suthentira Govender] India's leading clothing and textile manufacturers will show their latest designer collections at the Clothing and Textile Mega Trade Show at the Sandton Convention Centre from 23 - 24 March 2009. Read more >>
As part of the build-up activities towards the 2009 “Trade & Investment Africa” Exhibition and Congress, Thebe Exhibitions and Projects will be hosting the first of five African country focus seminars on 20 March, 2009 at the Michelangelo Hotel in Sandton, South Africa. Read more >>
Hospitality
[Prof Gideon Nieman] The Gauteng Liquor Board (GLB) has become one of the greatest barriers to entrepreneurship in the hospitality industry in Gauteng. It is also turning honest entrepreneurs into potential criminals. Read more >>
Import/Export
[Taschica Pillay] The first Durban-India business summit will take place this week to encourage trade and investment. Read more >>
 Volkswagen of South Africa (VWSA) has celebrated the export of its 375,000th vehicle with the news of an increased export order of approximately 6,000 Polos destined for Europe. Read more >>
[Wambi Michael] KAMPALA: Ugandan exporters of dairy products to Kenya are bitter. They are accusing their bigger neighbour of imposing non-tariff trade barriers to block their produce from entering markets in Kenya and elsewhere. Read more >>
Instore media
 Concentrate juice manufacturer Oros is once again running a campaign with branded shopping cart experts Icon Media to communicate to grocery buying parents and their family. This second consecutive deal secures one of Icon Mall's packages for the advertiser and provides Oros with exclusive exposure in Checkers Hypers and Pick n Pay outlets countrywide. Read more >>
Logistics
[Margie Inggs] Volumes at the Durban container terminal dropped 15.6% from December to last month compared with the same period last year, Solly Letsoalo, chief operating officer at Transnet Port Terminals, has reported. Read more >>
 [Jeff Pattison] Customers want shippers to provide as much information as possible on demand, and the technology exists to provide it, but shippers have only adopted the minimum standard when it comes to technology. Shippers must embrace web services and mobile applications. Read more >>
Manufacturing
Volkswagen of SA is recalling its Polo 1.9l 96kW TDi model that was produced between January 2005 and May 2008. Read more >>
[Mathabo le Roux] As SA joins other countries mulling rescue plans for companies reeling from the global economic crisis, it is worth considering SA's policy interventions before the crisis. The interventions in the ailing clothing and textiles industry provide an apt case study. Read more >>
TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp. plans to halve recruitment of full-time workers in the next fiscal year starting in April to around 1,800 employees, the Nikkei business newspaper reported yesterday, 19 March 2009. Read more >>
 Food company Nestlé SA today officially opened a new production line as part of its factory expansion, valued at R345 million, in Harrismith in the Free State. Read more >>
Packaging
 CCL Industries, a leader in label solutions for the consumer packaging and healthcare markets, recently acquired Ferroprint Western Cape, a wholly owned subsidiary (with separate facilities in Stellenbosch near Cape Town) of Ferroprint (Pty) Ltd., based in Durban, South Africa. Read more >>
Regulatory
 The Competition Tribunal said on Wednesday, 18 March 2009, that although it ruled that two summonses issued by the Competition Commission against Woodlands and Milkwood milk processors in the Clover milk price fixing case were void for being "vague and overbroad", it had imposed a novel remedy in the case. Read more >>
 Marketers and advertisers have just over a week to comment on advertising rules as set out in the ASA's Code of Advertising Practice. The deadline for submitting proposals for amending the ASA's Code is 31 March 2009. Read more >>
Apparently unaffected by the global financial downturn, Italy's Chinatown is teeming with warehouses full of clothes ready to ship, but an air of illegality surrounds the secretive network of clothing businesses run by Chinese immigrants. Read more >>
Research
Music CD sales have taken a sharp knock in the rising wake of digital purchases, the NPD Group market research firm reports. Read more >>
Retail services
Absa has started a countrywide pilot to introduce foreign languages on its ATMs to take advantage of international events, the listed commercial bank said recently. Read more >>
[Diane Bartlett] CRM software tools have improved almost beyond recognition over the past few years. So why do so many CRM implementations still struggle? Several years' work implementing CRM in a wide range of organisations points to a single, overarching factor: inadequate change management. Read more >>
Retailers
[Sasha Planting] Independent retailers generate half the sales in SA's R250bn grocery market and service three-quarters of the population. “Only a quarter of the population is serviced by the formal sector,” says Massmart CEO Grant Pattison. “And the lower end consumer is still in good shape, though this may change.” Read more >>
[Adrienne Carlisle] Two Eastern Cape business tycoons, who have been friends for over 26 years with joint business dealings, are at war over a shopping centre development in Grahamstown. Read more >>
South African retailers are seeing a rapid growth in the number of Chip and PIN cardholders at pay points, and are already upgrading their systems to accept these cards. Read more >>
Security
The new format IFSEC South Africa Securex exhibition at the Sandton Convention Centre from 30 June - 2 July 2009 is placing special emphasis on the importance of fire detection and prevention within the overall security industry. Read more >>
Supply chain
ACCRA: Standard Bank and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) have created a joint fund for African smallholder farmers. The fund is to operate in Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda, opening loan opportunities to smallholder farmers and small- and medium-sized agricultural businesses previously considered too risky for lending. Read more >>
Technology
[Yuri Kageyama] Japanese consumers are generally known for their nothing-but-the-best attitude toward tech purchases - and "the best" usually means "made in Japan". However, economic pressures are leading many to at least consider lower-priced imports. Domestic electronics powerhouses are fighting back by further lowering prices on low-end goods and adding features to expensive products. Read more >>
 [Renay San Miguel] The video game industry is proving to be the escapist outlet people need in tough economic times. Sales of software grew 14% during February, and console sales were up 10% in the same period. Nintendo's Wii console continued to hold onto its sales lead. Read more >>
 TOKYO: Fujitsu has launched the world's first e-book with a colour display in Japan, the company said on Thursday. Read more >>
 USA: Apple this week unveiled next-generation iPhone software with copy-paste and multimedia messaging features but no sign of much-coveted Flash for digital video. Read more >>
NEW YORK: US multimedia firm Discovery Communications filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Amazon on Tuesday, 17 March 2009, over its popular electronic reader, the Kindle. Read more >>
 [Francesco Mariola] Specific periods, such as the festive season, undoubtedly generate more income than others. But how do retailers and marketers maximise current advertising budgets without spending more than is absolutely necessary during a time when competition is all clambering for the same consumer attention? Read more >>
Training
[Kagiso Metswamere] The National Credit Regulator (NCR) urges consumers to avoid signing documents and contracts they have not read properly or do not understand. Read more >>
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