 22 Jun 2009 |
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Let them eat cake Consumers are getting ripped off on the price of food, chief economist Mike Schussler reportedly told the National Consumer Forum last week. While consumers shake their heads and mutter, "Tell me something I don't know...", I find it a little refreshing to hear that economists are at least noticing. Because although the word 'price-fixing' has been circulating the bakeries and dairies for some years now, just what exactly has filtered down to the shelf? With Tiger Brands, Premier Foods and Foodcorp admitting to their respective roles in the great bread cartel, and Pioneer Foods taking to the courts last week to defend itself against accusations of alleged involvement, has anyone noticed any difference in the actual price of the product on-shelf? I, for one, haven't noticed any change. If anything, the cost of bread just keeps rising along with everything else. How is this permissible? How is it that after all these years of paying more than necessary for basic foodstuffs, these companies get slapped with fines only to continue with business as usual - as far as the cost of things are concerned - while the millions of consumers who were exploited in the first place get nothing, not even a marginal reduction in price? How is this acceptable? We may as well just eat cake... Shan Radcliffe, Retail editor retailnews@bizcommunity.com Responses to this column welcomed in our new online editor's column archive. Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net. Top stories
RetailConsumers getting ripped off on food[Evan Pickworth] It looks like consumers are getting ripped off on food prices, said a leading economist. Read more >>Inside E Cape's largest shopping paradise [Asa Sokopo] East London's new mega mall next to Hemingway's Casino is rapidly taking shape, with one retail store already nearing completion. Read more >>Kenzo collection fetches €19m at auctionPARIS: Japanese designer Kenzo Takada waved off his personal art collection at auction for €1,9 million (US$2.6 million), just over the estimated value. Read more >>Used cars in the pound seats as buyers seek bargainsThere has been a significant shift from new vehicles to used cars, with end-user interest pushing up prices despite excess supply, says Clive van Horen, head of secured lending at Nedbank. Read more >>Retail trade figures dropRetail trade figures at constant prices for April decreased by 6.7% compared to a revised 4.9% decline in March, Statistics South Africa reported on Wednesday. Read more >>Supermarket shelf shock[Shannon Sherry] The National Agricultural Marketing Council has urged the competition commission to conduct a full-scale investigation into SA's big four supermarket chains for abuse of “market power”, particularly in their dealings with the suppliers of food products. Read more >>Banking & FinanceSouth Africa's current account deficit widensSouth Africa's current account deficit has widened, the South African Reserve Bank announced on Thursday, 18 June 2009. Read more >>Capitec offers lowest bank charges - survey Independent research by leading local financial website, ThinkMoney, has confirmed that Capitec Bank offers South Africa's lowest bank charges. Read more >>Brand newsNando's not up ‘for sale' [Adele Shevel] South African fast-food icon Nando's has ended months of speculation that it might be sold to international food group Yum Brands, the US owner of KFC and Pizza Hut. Read more >>Annual festival's an oyster for Arniston Bay Lifestyle wine brand Arniston Bay is the official wine sponsor of the Pick 'n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival. Read more >>New flavours and convenience from Ceralac [ActivRetail] Nestlé has introduced four new flavours to its range of Ceralac cereals to help moms introduce new tastes to their babies diet while maintaining the nutritional value of what they eat. Read more >>Limited editions, unlimited flavour
Corporate Social InvestmentIs your brand sick or healthy?[Issa Sikiti da Silva] In the 21st century, when many companies have become obsessed with huge profits and executives are eager to pocket fat bonuses and please anxious shareholders, sometimes corporate social responsibility has been almost buried and forgotten. Day and night, brand managers are looking for strategies to ensure that their product stays at the top. Read more >>Branding for social change[Claire Keeton] Companies are using their financial muscle to bring about change. Read more >>DistributionChinese firm takes stake in Bordeaux vineyardBORDEAUX: A Chinese firm has taken a majority stake in a Bordeaux vineyard, the latest move by the emerging Asian giant into the world of French wine, a company who advised on the deal said. Read more >>e-CommerceUse the cloud, Luke: easier shipping is in the stars[Damon Schechter] The past decade of e-commerce has been a story of small companies using online and Internet-delivered services to "act like the big boys." To date, the leveling of the playing field made possible by the Internet has not carried over to physical infrastructure investments like warehousing or shipping. However, all that is changing with Internet-delivered warehousing and order fulfillment. Read more >>The next wave of e-tail: considered commerce[Carl Prindle] E-commerce came of age by selling easily understood, easy-to-ship goods like books and CDs. However, today's online shoppers have grown more comfortable buying - or at least shopping for - big-ticket items like furniture and large appliances through the Web. This takes e-commerce into the realm of "considered commerce", and getting it right means playing by a different set of rules. Read more >>The multichannel e-commerce path out of the recession[Irwin Kramer] Retailers caught in the downward spiral of declining sales resulting from the weak economy need not wring their hands helplessly. Online sales are burgeoning, despite the downturn. A strong multichannel e-commerce strategy offers benefits that can extend beyond Internet sales themselves to streamlining in-store ordering processes and increasing sales through cross-selling and upselling. Read more >>ExhibitionsArise Africa Fashion Awards - African Fashion celebrates talent On Saturday night more than 1000 fashion insiders and their guests descended on the Sandton International Convention Centre in Johannesburg to celebrate the fashion talent of Africa at the inaugural Arise Africa Fashion awards. Walking away with the joint top prize of Designer of the Year was South African David Tlale and Nigerian Tiffany Amber. They both win a place on the catwalks of Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week in September of this year, as part of the Arise African Fashion Collective show. Read more >>World's biggest wine fair opens BORDEAUX, FRANCE: Vinexpo, the world's biggest wine and spirits fair, opens Sunday, 21 June 2009, as 40,000 professionals from around the globe gather to ply their beverages in markets made fiercely competitive by the economic crisis. Read more >>Fashion week rocks Sandton [Gugu Sibiya] International Africa Fashion Week, currently under way at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, is proving to be a resounding success. Read more >>Technology of treats joins Sweets Middle East This year sees the launch of Sweet & SnackTec Middle East, a new trade show being held in conjunction with Sweets Middle East, dedicated to the technology behind the manufacturing of sweets, snacks and confectionary. Read more >>HospitalityDeep pockets needed[Sasha Planting] When US fast-food icon McDonald's opened for business in South Africa 14 years ago, there was excitement among consumers — but local operators responded by sharpening their own operations. Read more >>Import/ExportMorocco begins massive port project - I-Net Bridge - AFPTANGIERS: Morocco's King Mohammed VI on Wednesday, 17 June 2009, attended a ceremony to mark the start of a project to create one of the biggest ports in Africa and the Mediterranean. The €825-million Tangier Med 2 port, in the north of the country, has financial support from a host of countries, including France and Italy. The country's economy minister, Salaheddine Mezouar, said the first phase of the project should be finished by 2014 and will be around the size of 80 football pitches.Russia, Belarus 'milk war' endsMOSCOW: Moscow will start importing Belarussian dairy products again, a Russian official said Wednesday, 18 June 2009, resolving a so-called "milk war" which had driven a wedge between the longtime allies. Read more >>Informal retailingMunicipality ordered to back off[Nivashni Nair] The KwaZulu-Natal High Court, Durban, has ordered the eThekwini municipality to stay away from the Early Morning Market in the Durban city centre until it strikes an agreement with the traders there. Read more >>ManufacturingNo maltery for Heineken In response to a recent report, Heineken has released a statement that it won't in fact be building a malting plant at its new brewery in Sedibeng, Gauteng. Read more >>Setting up textile hub is Bay's goal[Patrick Cull] Nelson Mandela Bay is to sign a partnership agreement with the National Development Agency (NDA) and Old Mutual for a proposed textile hub in the metro, economic development executive director Zolile Siswana has confirmed. Read more >>MerchandisingFake soccer shirts score[Nkosana Lekotjolo] Fake Bafana Bafana, Spain and Brazil jerseys are selling like hot cakes at the William Nicol drive off-ramp from the N1 highway in Johannesburg. Read more >>PackagingTranspaco expects higher earnings - I-Net BridgePackaging group Transpaco on Wednesday, 18 June 2009, advised that earnings per share and headline earnings per share were expected to be between 70% and 80% higher for the year ended 30 June, against results reported in 2008. The forecast has not been reviewed or reported on by the company's auditors. Transpaco said it expected to publish its results towards the end of August 2009.RegulatoryFar-reaching legal changes for franchises[Luphert Chilwane] Owners of franchise businesses who fail to comply with the Consumer Protection Act could end up facing fines of up to R1-million when the act becomes active in October next year, Simone Monty, a director of Routledge Modise in association with Eversheds, said in Johannesburg last week. Read more >>Tribunal told of bakers' secret pricing plot [Iseko Njobeni and Kgomotso Mathe] Premier Foods Western Cape regional director Terrence Lavery yesterday, 17 June 2009, laid bare details of collusion between bakeries to fix bread prices. Read more >>Trading as... no more [Irshaad Moidheen] The current practice whereby companies or close corporations trade under names other then their registered names will cease with the implementation of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), 2008. Read more >>Pioneer Foods to face Competition Commission[Zweli Mokgata] Pioneer Foods will today kick off its R1-billion battle with the Competition Commission over its alleged involvement in a bread price fixing scandal. Read more >>Retail marketingPutting some skin back into the game [Mike Abel] Here are some questions for CEOs and marketers on how to get more people to buy your stuff versus your competitor's brands. Read more >>Global ad watchdogs toughen up on offensive advertising [Chris Moerdyk] If the level of pettiness of complaints to the world's advertising standards authorities is anything to go by, the world's consumers are certainly getting a lot more sensitive about what they see in advertising. Read more >>Retail servicesOutsourcing grows as retailers shift prioritiesLONDON: Increasing economic pressures affecting the retail industry means companies in Western Europe and North America will increasingly look to outsource technology and business processes in a bid to cut costs, and focus on core skills. This is according to a new report by independent market analyst firm, Datamonitor. The report, “Retailing in a Recession: The Opportunities for Outsourcing”, looks at the business processes retailers are outsourcing, and why. Read more >>Are we live yet? Celebrate successful CRM implementation [Roger Strain] The moment a CRM project goes live should be an excuse for celebration: a milestone successfully reached, the culmination of weeks or months of effort. Yet all too often it slips by like an unwanted birthday, unnoticed and unheralded. Read more >>RetailersHope for credit retailers[Sasha Planting] Even when the chips are down JD Group CEO David Sussman has a bullish outlook on life. So when he points to an uptick in the furniture group's credit sales as “heartening” in a consumer recession, it would be easy to dismiss this as overly enthusiastic. Read more >>Famous shop to close after 60 years[Derrick Spies] After more than 60 years in business, the household name of Elco in East London will cease to exist. Read more >>SecurityWill PCI ever make the grade? [Jordan Robertson] PCI, the system that retailers, banks and creditors use to protect consumers' credit card numbers during and after transactions, is far from airtight, judging by the PCI-compliant companies that nevertheless experience breaches. Some potential fixes are clear to see, though it appears that the forces in control of the system are comfortable taking their hits in the name of speed and ease. Read more >>New research reveals growing security risksTwo new research studies, which concern the security implications of emerging technologies such as cloud computing, virtualisation, social networking and mobile communications, were released yesterday, Wednesday, 17 June by RSA, the Security Division of EMC. Read more >>Supply chainOne team, one strategy[Sasha Planting] On the face of it Rainbow Chicken's annual results were horrid. While revenue increased 14.4% to R6,8bn, pretax profit dropped 45% to R441m and headline earnings declined 40% to R318,8m. Read more >>TechnologyWorldwide decline in mobile marketThe worldwide mobile phone market shipped 35-million fewer units than it did during the same period one year ago, and all indications point to that trend continuing through Q4 2009. Read more >>
Retail marketingThe value of an impressive logo-build and titles - Sphere Animation Studio In television and visual advertising methodologies, it is not the first impression that counts, but the last impression that the viewer takes away with them - the moral of the story: make the final five seconds really impressive! Read more >>
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