The new, new economy

[Denis Pombriant] I almost couldn't have imagined it. I give myself a little leeway, but after years of writing and talking about "new, new things" it didn't really dawn on me that at some point we'd be talking about a new, new economy - but we are. Read more >>

Illovo makes strategic disposals

South African sugar producer Illovo Sugar on Thursday, 9 April 2009, announced strategic disposals, investments and changes in structure, which will result in a more focused and streamlined South African business, while increasing the group's footprint and future earnings potential in the rest of Africa. Read more >>

Campari buys the Wild Turkey

MILAN: Italian drinks group Campari said on Wednesday, 8 April 2009, that it is buying the Wild Turkey bourbon whiskey brand from French giant Pernod Ricard for US$575 million (€433 million). Read more >>

Coca-Cola buys stake in Innocent drinks

LONDON: US giant Coca-Cola will take a £30 million (€33 million, US$44 million) minority stake in natural drinks maker Innocent to help it expand into Europe, Innocent said this week. Read more >>

Re-entering the Dragon City turf war

[Sally Evans] Chinese traders have been caught in a turf war between two Johannesburg landlords, police confirmed yesterday, 7 April 2009. Read more >>

Miss FTV Africa 2009 finale approaches

On 18 April 2009, the finalists for Miss FTV Africa 2009 will compete for the title at the Theatre of Marcellus at Emperors Palace, Johannesburg in South Africa. The casting process for Miss FTV Africa 2009 started in January where 24 fashion model finalists from across the nation's five biggest cities were chosen. Read more >>

Eurozone retail sales down

BRUSSELS: Retail trade in the 16 eurozone nations fell unexpectedly sharply in February, dropping 0.6% from the level in January, official EU data showed on Monday, 6 April 2009. Read more >>

CMH sees earnings 70 - 75% lower - I-Net Bridge

Motor retail group Combined Motor Holdings on Thursday, 9 April 2009, advised that its headline earnings per share for the financial year ended 28 February 2009 would be 70% to 75% below those reported for the year ended 29 February 2008. It said that earnings per share for the period were also seen 90% to 95% below those reported last year. Results for the year ended 28 February 2009 are to be published on or about 23 April 2009.

Standard Bank appoints three deputy chief executives

Ben Kruger, Simpiwe 'Sim' Tshabalala, and Peter Wharton-Hood have been appointed deputy chief executives of the Standard Bank Group. Tshabalala is currently chief executive of Standard Bank of South Africa (SBSA), while Kruger and Wharton-Hood are group chief operating officers. Read more >>

New Pampers nappies with catepillar stretch

Pampers is launching its new Active Baby range with stretch to ensure babies are kept dry during sleep and play. Read more >>

New '2in1' option for dogs' dinner

[ActivRetail] Purina's new Alpo Full Course '2in1' is a unique concept, giving pet owners two options to choose from when feeding their dogs. Read more >>

P&G is recruiting staff it can nurture

[Nicola Mawson] Unlike many South African companies, fast-moving consumer goods company Procter & Gamble (P&G) is seeking to enhance its workforce instead of retrenching during the economic meltdown. Read more >>

Motorola grits teeth as Q1 charges mount

Motorola's total charges for its first fiscal quarter will total about US$229 million, the handset maker disclosed Monday. That's over $100 million more than the figure the company predicted back in January. Read more >>

Monis releases maiden Vintage Port

South African fortified wine producer, Monis, is adding a new dimension to Cape port with the release of its first Vintage Port. Read more >>

Economic downturn ups the need for social investment

[Amelia Jones] There's been a lot said and written about how the economic decline will impact the poorest of the poor, but much of it considers only how people already on the breadline will be affected - not that there will be far more of them. Read more >>

Adcock intends to acquire Cipla

Adcock Ingram announced on Thursday, 9 April 2009, that it has made a firm intention to the board of listed generic pharmaceutical manufacturer Cipla Medpro SA, to acquire the entire issued share capital of CMSA. The consideration payable will be an aggregate amount of R2,125 billion which equates to a consideration, prior to adjustment, of approximately R4.75 per CMSA Share. Read more >>

Kirin to sell stake in Pernod Ricard - I-Net Bridge - AFP

TOKYO: Japanese drinks group Kirin Holdings said on Tuesday, 14 April 2009, that it was selling its 3.74% stake in French wine and spirits company Pernod Ricard for an undisclosed sum. Kirin said it would sell 8.23 million shares in Pernod Ricard to a subsidiary of Societe Paul Ricard. The move follows the recent end of a contract allowing Kirin to distribute Pernod Ricard products in Japan.

eBay, StumbleUpon part ways

StumbleUpon, an Internet start-up bought by eBay Inc. two years ago for US$75-million, announced on Monday, 13 April 2009, that it had parted ways with the online auction giant. Read more >>

Innovation in a world of e-commerce woe

[Walaika Haskins] Lean times are here again for online businesses, but the web has changed considerably since the bubble popped nearly a decade ago. Just like before, survival will depend on fresh ideas and the courage to put money behind them. In fact, today's problems may wind up forging tomorrow's cash cows, inspiring new ways to advertise, monetize and search. Read more >>

Joburg Easter Festival achieves bumper finish

The inaugural Joburg Easter Festival, formerly the Rand Show, reportedly had a bumper finish this Easter weekend with visitor numbers at the MTN Expo Centre, Nasrec, climbing steadily since the 11-day show opened on 3 April 2009. Read more >>

Winners of the FASA Awards

The Franchise Association of Southern Africa (FASA) Awards for Excellence in Franchising, was held over the weekend, 4 April 2009, as the culmination of Franchise Week at the Sandton Convention Centre. With the incorporation of the International Franchise Expo and Convention, close to 400 franchisors and franchisees gathered to celebrate FASA's 30th anniversary as the industry's representative body. Read more >>

Union in bid to stop cheap tyre imports

Government has been asked to hike import duties on tyres in response to the dumping of cheap tyres, especially from China. Read more >>

Maintain quality standards, maintain advantage

The transport industry has been feeling the brunt of the economic downturn, with last year's fuel crisis hitting the industry harder than most. Implementing cost saving measures is a natural reaction, while maintaining safety, health, environment and quality standards are essential in ensuring sustainability and future growth. Read more >>

Grindrod finally seals the deal

[Nicola Jenvey] Grindrod, the multinational shipping and logistics group, recently concluded a R274m broad-based black economic empowerment (BEE) deal with Calulo subsidiary Calulo Petrochemicals and the Adopt-A-School Foundation. Read more >>

Transnet ports closed on election day

[Nthambeleni Gabara] Transnet Port Terminals will close all its port terminals along South Africa's coastline on Election Day in order to grant employee's the opportunity to cast their votes. Read more >>

Shock as Seardel closes Frame Textiles

[Mathabo le Roux] In what is seen as a watershed for the textiles industry, SA's largest clothing and textile manufacturer, Seardel, has announced the closure of Frame Textiles. Read more >>

Possible GM bankruptcy will have minimal impact on SA

The possible bankruptcy of General Motors in the United States will have minimal impact on GM South Africa (GMSA), the company stated at a press conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday, 7 April 2009. Read more >>

Penalties may hike electricity bills by 400%

Although South Africa has experienced a temporary reprieve from load shedding due to reduced demand from the global economic meltdown, plans are fully underway for Eskom to implement the Power Conservation Program (PCP), of which one part is the Energy Conservation Scheme (ECS). ECS is what everyone is calling “penalties”, which are scheduled to come into effect in August 2009. Read more >>

War of words over alcohol ban

[Anna Majavu] A new Western Cape law which bans liquor stores from selling alcohol to unlicensed taverns has turned into a political football. Read more >>

Non-durables boost retail confidence index

With the contraction in sales figures across almost all sectors of the market, the Q1 2009 results of the Bureau for Economic Research shows a slight increase in retail business confidence in the quarter, said Derek Engelbrecht, retail and consumer products sector leader at Ernst & Young, on Tuesday 7 April 2009. Read more >>

Retail, investment banking at ‘record low level'

[Edward West] Confidence in investment and retail banking fell to a record low in the first quarter as profits contracted in both market segments in line with a slowing economy, the Ernst & Young Financial Services index shows. Read more >>

How to get your share of 170bn marketing pages

[Paul Haglich] An InfoTrends study reveals that the volume of direct marketing is growing at 4.5% per year, and will continue to do so for the next 10 years. The same study also showed that consumers have a 100% preference for highly personal messages over mailings with only a name and address. Read more >>

Is your brand on the consumer's shopping list?

[Tom Sitati] Thankfully, the economic tide is sweeping us back to financial sanity. Susan Tumaini, a Nairobi-based human resource executive and single mother of two knows this too well. She has gone back to the basics that many in the thriving global economy had discarded. Before she ventures out to make any purchases, Susan arms herself with a shopping list. Read more >>

Marketers must look deep into the new consumer soul

[Chris Moerdyk] In his book The Future of Advertising, Joe Cappo, of Advertising Age fame, writes about a world of increasingly cynical consumers ignoring more and more the growing clutter of conventional advertising and simply not accepting or reacting to the same old tired claptrap, gimmicks and shallow come-ons. Read more >>

Brandhouse Beverages uses festivals

Brandhouse Beverages, distributor of Windhoek and Heineken beer in South Africa, as well as a large portfolio of premium spirits, is targeting festivals to promote its brands. The latest sign-up is a three-year contract with the annual Kirkwood Wildlife Festival in the Eastern Cape, which last year attracted over 35 000 people. Brandhouse is also sponsoring the Grahamstown Arts Festival during July and the Oppikoppi Festival taking place in August. “These are all multiple-year contracts, which include Brandhouse promotions of Windhoek, Heineken and the broader brand offering within the business," said Carel Hoffman of Oppikoppi Productions, which evaluates festivals on behalf of Brandhouse.

Catch a kitchen makeover

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Ocean Basket has gone in hook, line and sinker with Appletiser, offering a top-value combo meal and a chance to land a kitchen makeover worth a R100,000. The new meal combo is made up of a 200g platter of kingklip, 6 prince prawns, fries and a can of Appletiser for only R89. Customers are invited to enter a lucky drawn by SMS. Prizes start with 10 electric ice crushers from Boardmans and continue up with 20 Apple 1GB iPod Shuffles, five 30L convection microwave ovens from Boardmans, two Apple 8GB iPhones, and two Apple MacBook Air laptops, with that R100,000 kitchen makeover as first prize. Details of how to enter the draw are on display in every Ocean Basket nationwide.

SaaS and cloud computing: The channel is far from dead

[Jeffrey M. Kaplan] One of the misconceptions of the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and broader cloud computing market is that these new web-based services will "disintermediate" the channel because of their simpler, more user-friendly solutions, and direct sales and delivery business models. Read more >>

Don't blame staff for bad service

[Pete Smith] Why? Because, reckons Pete Smith, South African management is also to blame for bad customer service. Read more >>

Transparency in outsourcing, Part 2: Mum's the word

[Walaika Haskins] Part 1 of this two-part series looked at the reasons companies turn to outsourcing and offshoring. Part 2 will examine the laws governing the disclosure of layoffs and the state of the outsourcing market. Read more >>

The 10 building blocks of SaaS CRM integration

[Mike Pittaro] One crucial element for any SaaS CRM integration project is planning. Breaking the process down into 10 considerations can make it much more manageable and likely to succeed. Read more >>

Transport strike could threaten food supplies

[Luphert Chilwane] An indefinate strike by members of SA's four major transport unions was likely to cripple SA's biggest food chain store, Kevin Korb, director of food merchandise at Pick n Pay, said yesterday, 13 April 2009. Read more >>

Rex Trueform ‘may restructure, shed remaining factory'

[Nicola Mawson] Manufacturing and retail group Rex Trueform would benefit by cleaning up its holding structure, and could strip out its remaining factory, say analysts. Read more >>

Rate cuts could give Edcon R500m shot in the arm

[Nicola Mawson] Clothing retailer Edcon could benefit by as much as R500m as interest rates fell, an analyst said yesterday, 7 April 2009. Read more >>

Clothing company makes material gains

[Nicola Mawson] Clothing retailer Pep aims to have 20 stores operating in Angola within the next three years as it rolls out on the continent country by country. Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, was a Portuguese colony from the 16th century to 1975 and is the second-largest petroleum and diamond producer in sub-Saharan Africa. Read more >>

Shoprite announces price cuts

[Nicola Mawson] Consumers can expect some relief as price cuts on basic food items start coming through the supply chain, Shoprite said last week. Read more >>

Music-download pricing drifts away comfort zone

[Erika Morphy] Consumers who've gotten comfortable with buying music online for a buck are going to have to start rethinking their habits again. Read more >>

Third rebirth of computing: The end of PCs and game consoles

[Rob Enderle] Gaming may lead the way to a new technology era: the third rebirth of computing, when incompatibility between devices, games and platforms will become a distant memory. Instead, the private cloud will funnel resources to smartclients - more than thin clients but less than PCs. Intel's CloneCloud project could help make this idea a reality. Read more >>

Cellphone keypads: Goodbye 1-2-3, hello A-B-C

[Peter Svensson] Goodbye, numeric cellphone keypads. You're going the way of the rotary dial. Touchscreens and QWERTY keyboards will take over from here, thank you. Read more >>