 29 Nov 2010 |
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We're facing a fine festive seasonIt seems that thanks to the lowest repo rate in a decade or three, and retailers playing the game by keeping prices reasonable, this festive season could well be a good one.
That's good news for just about everyone - particularly after a couple festive seasons which were not memorably jolly for many people in this country. Of course, the trick for consumers (and that means all of us) is to enjoy the ride, but keep the lid on spending and extending our credit. Let's face it, what's the point of enjoying the festive season only to end up paying for it into 2011 - and in some cases, beyond 2011? In the meantime, however, it looks like good news, so why not spread a little cheer yourself, and when you pay the car-guard for looking after your precious metal, give R10 instead of your usual R2 or maybe R5. And when the postman stops by for his annual 'Thank you" (you know he'll be around because he's been greeting you very nicely for the past month or so), give a little extra. You won't feel it - but you can bet he will. Rod Baker, General Manager: Content Please send retail news to: retailnews@bizcommunity.com Responses to this column welcomed in our new online editor's column archive. Top stories
Banking & FinanceSuccessful inaugural women's financial conference The inaugural Women in Finance and Leadership Conference, held on 17-18 November 2010 at the Southern Sun Grayston, Johannesburg saw international and local speakers engage with an audience ranging from corporate leaders to SMEs. Read more >>Learners 'should choose maths for good careers' [Sanchia Temkin] "Parents and teachers should encourage their children to study and succeed in mathematics if they want to enter attractive careers like chartered accountancy, engineering or financial services," says Chantyl Mulder, senior executive for professional development, transformation and growth at the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica). Read more >>Brand newsPlayboy appoints Marcus Brewster PublicityPlayboy has appointed PR firm Marcus Brewster to launch the magazine in South Africa in 2011. According to the publication, the title's 28 editions sell approximately three million copies globally every month. Read more >>SABMiller buys Argentine brewer SABMiller on Wednesday announced its entry into the Argentine market after agreeing to buy CASA Isenbeck from German rival Warsteiner Group for an undisclosed sum. Read more >>Johnson & Johnson moves to Net#work BBDO Cape TownNet#work BBDO Cape Town, which manages the Johnson and Johnson's Stayfree business, has announced that it has acquired the entire baby and adult range to its portfolio, covering in excess of 100 stock keeping units. "This is a significant win for us and we are looking forward to creating impactful, memorable work in these growing categories. In fact work for 2011 is already underway," says MD Eric d' Oliveira.Fry's flies high with Entrepreneur Award Durban-based Fry's Vegetarian was recently named winner of the Emerging Entrepreneur category of Ernst & Young's South African chapter of the World Entrepreneur Awards, in recognition of their optimism, innovation and growing success. Read more >>De Krans gets five-star Platter ratingsThe De Krans Wine Cellar has been awarded two five-star ratings in the latest edition of the Platter's South African Wines 2011, for its Cape Tawny Port NV and Cape Vintage Reserve Port 2008, it was announced last week. Read more >>Fleur de Caps' liquid gold nets another award At London's 2010 International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) final awards, held last week, Fleur du Cap was named the South African Producer of the Year, after winning two Best in Class Gold medals for its 2008 and 2009 Noble Late Harvest vintages. Read more >>MTN Business, SAB brew up new relationship MTN Business has been awarded the tender to supply a combination of fibre and connectivity services to The South African Breweries Limited (SAB) - South Africa's leading producer and distributor of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and one of the nation's largest manufacturing firms. Read more >>IWCS awards Distiller of the Year At the International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) Awards, which took place at Guildhall in the City of London late last week, the independent, family-owned distiller William Grant & Sons, producer of Glenfiddich, The Balvenie and Grant's Scotch Whiskies, was named 2010's 'Distiller of the Year'. Read more >>Commercial propertyKZN sees improved property performance in commercial sector According to Rob Moran, regional director for JHI property services group, various sectors of the commercial property market in key business nodes in KwaZulu-Natal are experiencing gradually improving market sentiment. Read more >>Listed property companies in Top 100 The listed property sector fared particularly well overall amongst South Africa's top 100 companies, with nearly 15% of companies performing in the top 50 for 'profit after tax' and 'growth over 10 years'. Read more >>Push PE waterfront plan, urges Mtati[Guy Rogers] Former Percci chief executive and Port Elizabeth business consultant Odwa Mtati has called for greater pressure to be put on Transnet to partner with other port stakeholders to help transform this key asset into a state-of-the-art waterfront. Read more >>Broll adds two new malls to portfolio Westwood Shopping Centre in KwaZulu-Natal and Goldfields Mall, a new shopping centre in Welkom in the Free State, have both outsourced their complete property management requirements to property management company Broll Property Group. This includes the management of all operations, admin processes, rent collection, statement generation, leasing and facilities management. Read more >>Corporate Social InvestmentCollect-a-Can breaks its own Guinness world record Collect-a-Can will once again be acknowledged in the Guinness World Records book for collecting the most steel cans in a single month. The organisation has recorded a collection figure of 2 656 286 cans for the month of October 2010. Read more >>CRMMedshield launches new-look interactive website With the NHI well on its way to becoming a reality for South Africans, the significance of member-scheme communication has become increasingly important. Accessibility and two-way communication are crucial for new and existing members, especially when exciting industry changes are on the horizon. Read more >>LG Electronics new call centre hoursLG Electronics S.A (Pty) Ltd has extended its call centre hours with the aim of delivering better customer service. The call centre is now open from Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm and Saturday from 8am to 2pm. The call centre number is toll free 0800 LG LG LG or (0800 54 54 54).Exhibitions & EventsSandton City hosts Disney ChannelThe Sandton City Fountain Court will host the Disney Channel from 10-24 December 2010, as part of its Christmas children's events. The area will be divided into play zones, featuring different aspects of the channel's offerings. These include Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Jonas LA and Camp Rock 2 and Phineas and Ferb.Festival Mall celebratesThe Festival Mall, located in Kempton Park, celebrated the Kids Club' first birthday by encouraging its members to join the mascot, Siyaya, in his activities. The club signed up 330 new members on the day.Green sustainabilityCarbon neutral power plant opens in Johannesburg A renewable waste to energy gasification plant, located in Honeydew, Johannesburg, is the result of many years of research and development by renewable energy company, EECOFuels and presents organisations in both the public and private sectors with a robust, economical and safe way of generating electricity from renewable resources, including solid waste. Read more >>SA business leaders back Cancun talks South African corporate leaders presented the Cancun Communiqué, calling for movement and collaboration on the international climate policy agenda, to Joanne Yawitch, deputy director general in the Department of Environmental Affairs responsible for climate, who is a key member of the South African delegation travelling to the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) in Cancun in a few days. Read more >>Health & SafetyCipla and PinkDrive breast health educationCipla recently invited the PinkDrive to its head office to educate female employees regarding breast-health as part of its corporate-wellness strategy and to enforce the message that early detection saves lives. Read more >>Children face speed challenge UK study reveals children cannot accurately judge speed of vehicles travelling faster than 30km/h, reveals study. Read more >>HospitalityTake a tour, meet a ghost, get a skrikThere are still tickets available for The Mystery Ghost Bus Tour in Joburg for this Saturday, 27 November. The tour includes 'Pub & Grub' stops, haunted houses, poltergeists, graveyards and much more. Be scared out of your wits from 7pm to midnight at a cost of R295 each. To book, call Computicket +27 (0) 83 915 8000. Go to the website www.mysteryghostbus.co.za ... if you dare!Import/ExportGEDA GM takes top RTPO position At the first African-held Annual General Assembly of the International Network for Regional Trade Promotions Organization (RTPO), held in Johannesburg late last week, the organisation named Mudunwazi Baloyi, GM of Trade and Investment Promotion at GEDA, as the new president. He takes over from Gerardo Juarez of Argentina's Cordoba organisation. Read more >>PackagingNampak plan to box clever pays off Nampak announced that for the year ended 30 September 2010, its operating profit increased by 126% following good turnarounds in the paper businesses in South Africa and Europe and the sale or closure of a number of loss-making businesses. Read more >>RegulatoryNCT cancels debt counsellor's registration In response to an application brought by the National Credit Regulator (NCR), the National Consumer Tribunal (NCT) cancelled the registration of a debt counsellor, Barry Kotze, with immediate effect on 11 November 2010. Read more >>ResearchIncome figures reveal growth in African households New research just published by the Bureau of Market Research reveals the latest data on the growth of income in African households and covers the period 2008-2009. Read more >>SMEs also green According to Arthur Goldstuck, principal researcher of SME Survey 2010, sponsored by the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), the answer to the question 'how important environmental awareness is to doing business', produced unexpected results. Read more >>GDP growth fragility in mid-2010 no joke [Cees Bruggemans] GDP growth for 3Q2010 (quarterly annualized) came in at an anaemic 2.6%, well below the consensus view of 3.2%. To add insult to injury, growth for 2Q2010 was revised down from 3.2% to 2.8%, and if there was any World Cup growth dividend, it certainly was well hidden in the detail. Read more >>Retail marketingLet your fingers do the walking... [Douglas Kruger] Does your sales team need more training? Or does your thought leadership need work? Sometimes, when sales are down, it's not about the sales. Read more >>2010 Annual on ad agencies now outThe fourth edition of The Annual, published by Future Publishing, is out now. In depth profiles provide a view of each agency's services, offerings and areas of expertise, making it an informative tool for navigating the advertising and branding industry. Read more >>Reinforcing social marketing's role in age of austerity [Issa Sikiti da Silva] In a world dictated by the profit-obsessed corporate and manipulated by commercial marketing, which sometimes resort to unethical practices to achieve its goals, social marketing has a critical role to play in steering behavioural change in society. Read more >>RetailersNew Apple Touch Point in TygervalleyA new Apple Touch Point store has been opened by Digicape on Durban Rd in Tygervalley, in Cape Town's northern suburbs near the N1, adjacent to the new Orms photographic centre. It offers a full range of Apple hardware, as well as software and accessories from Adobe, Wacom, Microsoft, Lacie and others. It also provides convenient direct access to the technical department for repair work on-site.Retail hopes up for Christmas trading Results from the latest Bureau for Economic Research (BER) / Ernst & Young Festive Season Retail Trends survey reveal that after a two-year hiatus, consumer spending should be relatively strong over the period leading up to Christmas. Read more >>Jet Stores plays Father Christmas to childrenIn the run-up to Christmas, underprivileged children from care homes in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Nelspruit and Bethlehem have been treated to Christmas shopping sprees at their local Jet stores. Read more >>V&A Waterfront increases footprint for 2010 The V&A Waterfront's strategic focus on innovation, new developments and a stronger retail offering, ensured increased footfall in 2010, compared to the same period last year, says CEO David Green. Read more >>Scottsville Mall ready for SantaScottsville Mall in Pietermaritzburg is running customer competitions from 3 December 2010 to 15 January 2011; kids can meet Santa and receive free goodies on 16, 17, 19 and 24 December from 10am to 1pm; and shoppers can have their purchases beautifully gift wrapped with proceeds going to charity.Metcash pursues Franklins bid despite ACCC [Zeenat Moorad] Metcash Trading is exercising its right to purchase Pick n Pay's Australian unit Franklins despite the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) decision to oppose the transaction. Read more >>Security2010: Ten months of malware creation Between January and October this year, hackers have created 20 million new variants, the same amount as in the whole of 2009, and the average number of threats received every day by PandaLabs has risen from 55 000 to 63 000. Read more >>TechnologySADC spurns Brazil, adopts DVB-T2 [Candice Jones] It's official. Southern Africa will adopt the European standard for digital terrestrial broadcasting. In addition, the region has adopted the latest version of the standard, known as digital video broadcasting terrestrial version 2, or DVB-T2. Read more >>DStv goes mobile Viewers wanting DStv wherever they go can access it on a DVB-H enabled cellphone or via MultiChoice's newly introduced Mobile TV decoder, the Drifta. This follows the launch on Tuesday 23 November 2010 of its mobile TV broadcasting service, DStv Mobile. Read more >>Pre-paid health care on a mobile South Africans used to pay-as-you-go cellphone airtime can now use their mobile to purchase healthcare services for use in times of need from Yarona Care. Read more >>South African start-up named best in European tech awards TechCrunch Europas, the European Start-up Awards for tech companies, has named Cognician, a South African technology start-up, as one of the top 11 Best New Start-up's in 2010 at its awards function held late last week in London. Read more >>Research validates claims of no-compromise bandwidth reduction Polycom, a global leader in unified communications solutions with industry-leading telepresence, video, voice and infrastructure solutions built on open standards, has had independent research verify its claim of high-definition telepresence at up to 50% less bandwidth with no appreciable loss in call quality. Read more >>TrainingZelda's nipping off to Napa Steenberg Vineyards, having won two categories in the recent Great Wine Capitals Best of Wine Tourism Awards, was entitled to nominate a member of its staff to visit one of the wine-producing countries within the network. Read more >>2011 Graduate recruitment programme opens at brandhouse brandhouse is calling for graduates to join its 2011 Graduate Recruitment Programme, part of the Diageo Africa 'Growing together' Graduate Programme which offers graduates an opportunity to work with world brands. The company currently has 13 graduates and wishes to extend this to 20 for 2011. Read more >>
TH!NK climate blogging competition COP16 winners announced MAASTRICHT, THE NETHERLANDS: The European Journalism Centre has announced the winners of its TH!NK 4: Climate Change blogging competition. More than 173 bloggers and journalists participated in the competition from around the world, reporting on both global and local climate change issues. Read more >>The crying carpet MUMBAI, INDIAN: The arts and crafts industry in India employs 60 million children. Starved, tortured and abused, consumers are often unaware of the treatment to which these children are subjected. Read more >>Black Friday boasts US$648 million in US online holiday spending RESTON, US: comScore yesterday, 28 November 2010, reported US retail e-commerce spending for the first 26 days of the November - December 2010 holiday season. Read more >>comScore forecasts 11% growth for 2010 holiday e-commerce spending RESTON, US: comScore has reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 21 days of the November-December 2010 holiday season, as well as its official spending forecast for the season. For the holiday season-to-date, US$9.01 billion (about R63 billion) has been spent online, marking a 13% increase versus the corresponding days last year. Read more >>Axe Mr Pimpa BRASILIA, BRAZIL: Fragrance marketing is as much about image as it is about the actual scent itself, arguable even more so. When Axe wanted to launch a new fragrance, named Music Star, the image of the scent was all important. Read more >>More International news...
CRMTracer develops application to manage off-site workers - Tracer CQM and Sofware InternationalTracer has developed a new application, Tracer Remote Manager, which makes it possible to easily manage people who work off-site, such as sales teams, field service agents and market researchers. Read more >>Exhibitions & EventsThe Baby Expo MamaMagic Summer Show is sold out! - The Baby Expo - MamaMagic With all exhibition stands sold out for The Baby Expo MamaMagic taking place at the Coca-Cola dome in Joburg on 25-28 November, exhibitors can't wait to open the doors to the public as the opportunity allows them to engage and speak to thousands of pregnant women and new parents eagerly waiting to experience their brands. Read more >>The Baby Expo MamaMagic wins Best Exhibition of the Year 2010 - The Baby Expo - MamaMagic On Thursday 18th November at the EXSA (Exhibition and Event Association of South Africa) Awards 30th Birthday at Emperors Palace, The Baby Expo MamaMagic Johannesburg was named Best Exhibition of the Year 2010. Read more >>LogisticsIMPERIAL Logistics invests in zero emission cooling technology - IMPERIAL LogisticsPerishable goods distributors, Fast'nFresh, which falls under the umbrella of IMPERIAL Logistics Refrigerated Services has taken delivery of three ecoFridge fitted trailers and a rigid body truck. Read more >>
  More 'Luxury Reborn' brand awareness campaign for Belvedere Vodka   More
Freelander gets make-up and fancies [Henrie Geyser: motoring editor] "Every cloud has a silver lining", the saying goes and right now Land Rover is hoping (and probably praying) that a few new fancies, nip-and-tuck surgery and a touch of silver could give its new-look Freelander the extra traction its needs to get it out of the low-sales mud it has been stuck in for some time. Read more >>Fiesta armed for market war [Henrie Geyser: motoring editor] Serious homework awaits all future buyers of the reshuffled, prettied up, extended and considerably enhanced Fiesta range because Ford now offers its popular oval badger in 13 model variants including three-door, four-door and five-door options and the choice of manual or automatic transmission. Read more >>More Motoring news...
Long Beach Hotel, Mauritius: a new experience in Mauritian holiday-making Opening in April 2011, the brand new Long Beach Hotel on Mauritius' east coast, on the Belle Mare Peninsula, is situated right where a powerful urban feel meets the ultimate in ocean, beach and indulgence. Read more >>More Travel news...
Evita - could be surprisingly good for you [Daphne Cooper] Evita is a big production and Theatre on the Bay is a small theatre. How would the grand theatrical scale of the adoring or mourning crowds, for example, be conveyed? Would we lose something of the power of this rock musical in the intimate setting of the theatre? These kinds of questions were obviously considered by Paul Warwick Griffin who directed the show. Read more >>Believe it cause it's true [Ruth Cooper] Born eight years ago, long before Jack Parow and Die Antwoord, Corné and Twakkie are probably the first satirical zeffers ever, maybe. What with their porn star mo's, tight shorts (that are dangerously far from the knees) and mangled Afrikaans accents and sayings, Corné and Twakkie are the epitome of zef. Well aware of this they included a quick parody of Die Antwoord's Enter the Ninja in their Most Amazing Show last Friday night. (Aiie aiie aaa, I am your dragonfly.) Read more >>Lazy Sunday lunching at Fraai Uitzicht 1798 [Riccardo Spagni] When was the last time you spent Sunday lunch at a place that made you never want to leave? I mean, when was the last time you felt so comfortable and so blissful that you genuinely wanted to stay till supper and for a few hours thereafter? Just recently I dragged my wife to Robertson on a blistering Sunday to review Fraai Uitzicht 1798, and it was just such a place. Read more >>More BizLounge news...
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"I always say shopping is cheaper than a psychiatrist." - Tammy Faye Bakker "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." - Red Adair "Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping." - Bo Derek "Money, if it does not bring you happiness, will at least help you be miserable in comfort." - Helen Gurley Brown "You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn." - Abraham Lincoln Print - Print any item in this newsletter.
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