Retail South Africa weekly newsletter - 11 Jun 2012

Friends and fauxs

We've probably all done it at sometime or another - whether we know it or not. Perhaps it was that cheap box of cigarettes from the corner stall, maybe the Foakleys bought at the intersection... or even the replica football jersey from the Sunday market because we all know the cost of those authentic jerseys at the mall is just daylight robbery. You know what I'm talking about. Counterfeit goods. And why should we care? Who does it hurt? No really... Who does it hurt?

In other news last week, Edcon made a massive deal with Absa, selling the group's private label store card portfolio to the bank for a cool R10 billion. Moody's calls the move "credit positive", that is if the proceeds go toward easing some of the company's debt.

Coming up this week, you can expect April's retail trade sales figures on Wednesday, with wholesale trade stats following on Thursday. The forecast for the retail sales is expected to slow, despite the slew of holidays during April. I feel inclined to give those "enforced rest periods" a little more credit than that, but we'll just have to see, won't we?

Have a great week everyone!

Shan Radcliffe, Retail editor
Please send retail news to: retailnews@bizcommunity.com
Responses to this column welcomed in our new online editor's column archive.
Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

April retail sales seen rising 4.1% y/y

[Ntsakisi Maswanganyi] Growth in SA's retail trade sales at constant (2008) prices for April is expected to slow to 4.1% year on year (y/y)‚ from y/y growth of 6.8% in March‚ according to a survey of leading economists by I-Net Bridge. Read more >>

Absa buys Edcon's store card portfolio

Yesterday, 6 June 2012, Absa and Edcon entered into a long term, strategic relationship, with Absa acquiring the accounts and receivables relating to the private label store cards of Edcon in South Africa, including Edgars, Jet and Boardmans brands. An extension of the agreement is that Absa will provide retail credit to the group's customers. Read more >>

Sale of Edcon's receivables book credit positive

Moody's Investors Service says that Edcon's (B2‚ Stable) proposed disposal of its R10 billion private label store credit card portfolio to Absa Bank Limited (ASA) (A3/Prime-2‚ Rating Under Review) is credit positive‚ given the expectation that the majority of the proceeds will be used to reduce Edcon's debt burden. Read more >>

Seardel results, no takers for heavy suit

[Marc Hasenfuss] Minority shareholders in Seardel Investment Corp might be forgiven for fantasising about the value-laden clothing and textile conglomerate stripping off its remaining garments. But anchor shareholder Hosken Consolidated Investments, which pumped some R250m into Seardel in a rescue rights issue in late 2008, remains determined to fashion a new-look clothing manufacturing hub after radically rationalising loss-making operations. Read more >>

Pam Golding on Main to boost Kenilworth area

The Cape Town Kenilworth area will receive a property boost with the building of 4100sqm of offices and retail space, as well as 129 parking bays on two floors of secure, undercover parking. The site on the corner of Summerley and Main Roads is being redeveloped into a prime AAA grade commercial property which is expected to act as a catalyst for urban renewal in the area. Read more >>

Judges selected for Women of the Year Award

Sixteen high profile South Africans have been selected to judge entrants to the 2012 Shoprite Checkers Women of the Year Award. Chaired by High Court Judge, Lucy Mailula, the panel will meet in June 2012. Two rounds of adjudication will be held to determine the category finalists and winners, selected via personal interviews. Read more >>

E-commerce in Africa: Not quite ready for take-off

Lack of bandwidth is not the only factor hampering the development of e-commerce and online business in Africa, says Peter Harvey, founder and managing director of PayGate, an online payments solution provider. Harvey adds that the continent also needs a much more sophisticated financial infrastructure. Read more >>

Australian toy innovator plans first South African toy fair

The Australian toy innovator, Ken Howard is planning the first international toy and game trade fair for the African continent for August 2013 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC). The event is aimed at growing the local toy market and kick-starting a vibrant toy design and manufacturing industry in South Africa. Read more >>

Launch of first carton recycling facility

During the week of World Environment Day, Tetra Pak and Gayatri Paper Mills had the operational launch of the first carton recycling facility of its kind in South Africa, which ensures the complete, environmentally responsible and friendly lifecycle of the carton from cradle to grave, as 6000 tons of used beverage cartons per annum are destined for local reuse. Read more >>

Judges selected for Diners Club Winelist Awards

The Diners Club Winelist Awards, being held in August 2012, has selected its 2012 judging panel, headed up by veteran wine critic and author Dave Hughes. He is joined by Pete Goffe-Wood, MasterChef South Africa judge; Marilyn Cooper, head of the Cape Wine Academy; sommelier Miguel Chan; JP Rossouw, author of Rossouw's Restaurants; Nikki Dumas, restaurant wine list specialist; wine critics and judges Fiona McDonald and Christine Rudman; and reigning Diners Club Young Winemaker of the Year, Matthew van Heerden. Read more >>

Spotlight on quicker supply chain for retailers

[Mark Allix] The 34th annual Association for Operations Management of Southern Africa (SAPICS) conference started on Sunday, giving regional supply chain companies insight into the latest logistics management systems and technologies. Read more >>

Entries open for Energy Efficient Lighting Design Competition

The 2012 Eskom Energy Efficient Lighting Design Competition is open for entries in two categories - full-time students in tertiary institutions and professional designers, electrical engineers, product designers, researchers and anyone with a passion for design. Read more >>

Staying competitive in global recessions

The Deloitte 5th Annual Global Powers of the Consumer Products Industry survey, which identifies 250 of the world's largest consumer products companies and provides an outlook for the global economy, an analysis of market capitalisation in the industry and a discussion of major trends affecting these companies has been released. Using this as a reference, Michael van Wyk, Deloitte Partner, calls on global consumer products companies to revisit their business and operating models to resist the worldwide economic recession and push for growth in 2012 and beyond. Read more >>

Brands behaving badly on social media

[Banele Rewo] If you believe that social media enables brands to build relationships with consumers you are dead wrong. The technology merely provides a platform to connect the two parties then everything else goes back to basic psychology, group dynamics and social science. Read more >>

Clothing retailers mostly looking good

[Annaleigh Vallie and Zeenat Moorad] Clothing retailers have beat market expectations in the past year, improving performances and margins through supply chain efficiency, but how sustainable is this growth as consumers come under increased pressure? Read more >>

Retailers' push into townships crushes Metcash

[Annaleigh Vallie] Local retailers' expansion into underserviced areas such as townships may have led to the collapse of what was once the biggest wholesale business in Africa, Metcash Trading Africa, which after 44 years is no more. Read more >>

Technical consumer goods market: Difficult start

NUREMBERG, GERMANY: According to the Results of the GfK TEMAX Western Europe for the first quarter of 2012, the overall Technical Consumer Goods (TCG) market in Western Europe achieved a sales volume of €46.2bn in Q1 2012. This corresponds to a slight decrease of 5.1% compared to Q1 2011. With the exception of Austria and Germany, all the countries surveyed in GfK TEMAX Western Europe were affected by this development. Read more >>

Cannes Lions: Dan Wieden to receive Lion of St. Mark

CANNES, FRANCE: The organisers of the 59th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity have announced that the 2012 recipient of the Lion of St. Mark will be Dan Wieden, co-founder and global executive creative director of Wieden+Kennedy. Read more >>

AFP to launch iPad app in Arabic

PARIS, FRANCE: The new offering is a free app from the App Store allowing access to a selection of news stories, photographs, video and graphics produced by the agency's Arabic editorial desk backed by a global network of AFP journalists. Read more >>

New biometric card to boot out social grant fraud

[Stephen Timm] The roll out of a new biometric card to social grant beneficiaries from June will help government reduce the risk of fraud in the social grants system and improve the delivery of grants while cutting the costs involved in payouts. Read more >>

Red tape halts future property development

Property developments in South Africa are being severely hampered by bureaucracy and red tape, prompting at least two major development companies to end their commercial and retail property development plans in this country, according to a report in Business Day. Read more >>

Shortage of artisans hampers SMME growth

[Siya Miti] The shortage of skilled artisans hampers South Africa's small medium and micro enterprise (SMME) sector growth and employment, Eastern Cape MEC for economic development Mcebisi Jonas told a media briefing. This comes as the Eastern Cape hosts a jobs summit at the East London International Convention Centre (ICC). Read more >>

Lexus ready to rumble the Germans

[Henrie Geyser: motoring editor] Lexus has always been a leading stalker of the dominant German three-brand gang but now that it has unwrapped its new GS range its status has moved from amber threat to red attack alert because for the very first time Lexus has the weapons to take on the enemy on all fronts - and to outclass and beat them. Read more >>

Gizmos and glitter for VW's flagship

[Henrie Geyser: motoring editor] Volkswagen has prettied up and added more glitter to its already good-looking four-door coupé range and this time round the CC might just rattle the comfort zone cages of the Audi A4, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3 Series in key departments such as ride quality, comfort, performance and looks. Read more >>

[10 Things I love About...] Destinations I've visited, the experiences

[Brian Berkman: contributing editor, travel] Mohamed Hamza, an MBA graduate from the University of Strathclyde Business School, began his career with Hilton Worldwide in 1990. During his tenure with Hilton, he played an active role in supporting the food and beverage functions for several pre-opening hotels and in 2010, accepted his fifth assignment as General Manager when he joined Hilton Durban. Contributing Editor Brian Berkman asked him about the 10 things he loved about destinations he's visited and the experiences he's had. Read more >>

13 Protea Hospitality Group hotels in SA achieve TripAdvisor Excellence Awards

Establishments that consistently achieve outstanding traveller reviews. That's the criterion for TripAdvisor's annual Excellence Awards and 13 Protea Hospitality Group properties within South Africa have been named as recipients. Read more >>

Le Franschhoek tops with Tripadvisor

Le Franschhoek Hotel & Spa, managed by Three Cities, has been awarded TripAdvisor's 2012 Certificate of Excellence. The award, based on scoring by TripAdvisor's numerous international travellers, is an on-going acknowledgement of Le Franschhoek Hotel & Spa as a five star property with outstanding facilities including the acclaimed Dish and Le Verger restaurants and destination Camelot Spa, earning the hotel the exceptional achievement of a 4 out of 5 rating. Read more >>

Custom-made Patlansky blues

[Johann M. Smith] Oh Fender, Fender, Fender - the sound that echoes like a tin can in a dead-end street, banging and twanging for more than 50 years now. The one you want is a Stratocaster, of which Dan Patlansky has plenty. And, like the front image of a dirty, dog-eared porn magazine, the cover of his latest album, "20 Stones", makes no secret about its contents. You know exactly what you're going to get. Read more >>

Being Flynn

[Daniel Dercksen] There is something exceptional about father-son stories and in the extraordinary Being Flynn, it clearly shows that blood is thicker than water. Fathers and their sons bonding, or drifting apart, are significant ingredients of a story that anyone can relate to. Read more >>

Facing the music

[Daphne Cooper] Face the Music is described as a "high-voltage show combining chart-topping songs and dazzling dance moves with the novel, fun format of a spectacular music game show". It is all that, but like most things, there's good and there's not so good. Read more >>

Jeff Dunham's controlled chaos

[Jordan Scott] There is something incredibly odd about watching something on YouTube for hours on end and then actually seeing it live. I say odd, but what I mean is absolutely amazing! Jeff Dunham started his career when he was just a youngster and first appeared with Walter in 1996, but his major success came when he brought Achmed, The Dead Terrorist into the mix. His television specials and series have been the highest rating programmes in Comedy Central's history. Read more >>

Dare to see Prometheus

[Daniel Dercksen] Master visualist and supreme storymaker Ridley Scott Gothicises the Alien legacy to its outermost intensity, showing the gloom of exploring an unchartered universe, confronting grotesque creatures and being endangered by supernatural forces in the supreme Prometheus. Read more >>

Lean Enterprise Workshop BMGI SA - Johannesburg, 11 June
Supervisor leadership course Printing SA - Johannesburg, 11 June
TIA open innovation challenge workshop RIIS obo TIA - Pretoria, 11 June
Choosing cultures of citizenship and collaboration Symphonia - Johannesburg, 12 June
Carbon and emissions management Khula Development Corporation - Johannesburg, 12 June
The secret to advanced event management The Hedgehog Event - Sunninghill, 13 June
Miza's annual Black and Gold charity party Aptitude Consulting - Johannesburg, 14 June
Cape Town book fair Cape Town Book Fair - Cape Town, 15 June
How to get your point across Pietermaritzburg Chamber of Business - Pietermaritzburg, 20 June
EQ leadership course Xtreme Learning Academy - Port Elizabeth, 21 June

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