Retail South Africa weekly newsletter - 4 Mar 2013

What's in a vice?

Image courtesy of renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

It seems I'm perpetually whining about the price of petrol. And this month, things will be no different. So you'd better not forget to fill up tomorrow since you'll be paying another 81c per litre for that liquid gold come Wednesday. This increase brings the fuel price to a record high of R13.08 inland and R12.73 down at the coast.

And if the rising price of petrol is driving you to drink, you're in for more bad news. The 2013 Budget is out, and your everyday vices are going to have a vice-like grip on your wallet. The brandy market is already feeling the pinch; meanwhile the illicit alcohol industry still blithely runs amok, untouched by the law.

The buzz around the butchery aisle this past week has been centred on what exactly is in our beef mince? The answer: apparently anything from donkey to water buffalo. Even game biltong is not what it claims to be. The NCC has called that this non-disclosure of ingredients a breach of the CPA. "No Meat Monday" suddenly doesn't sound like too bad an option, now does it?

Have a good one!

Shan Radcliffe, Group Head - Retail

PS. Responses to this column welcomed in our online ed's column archive. Send all your retail news to retailnews@bizcommunity.com, exclusive opinion pieces to contributors-retail@bizcommunity.com and international news to internationalnews@bizcommunity.com; also take a look at our guide "How to contribute to Bizcommunity, from op-ed pieces to news". Don't forget to follow @Biz_Retail on Twitter and join us on Facebook!

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New vehicle sales idling along

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