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Christmas shopping by candlelight

We're all feeling the brunt and irritation of the on-going load-shedding, but having recently witnessed the closed doors of some large department stores and disgruntled shoppers milling around, waiting for them to reopen, I hadn't given much thought to the revenue lost by retailers who have been rendered, well, powerless. Where are the generators? Who's responsible for implementing a back-up plan - the retailers themselves or centre management? And what about all those lost sales - is there insurance for that? Can they sue for lost income? With Christmas fast approaching, retailers can not afford the downtime, retailers have asked Eskom to review weekend load-shedding, but whether their plea will be successful is still to be seen...

Till then, enjoy your candlelit dinners... of peanut butter sandwiches...

Shan Radcliffe, Group Head - Retail (@Biz_Retail) Image: © bilderundvektor - 123RF.com Comment online in our ed's column archive. Go mobile with apps and m.bizcommunity.com. Engage with us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. Subscribe to YouTube and via RSS. Send all your retail news and event invitations to retailnews@bizcommunity.com, exclusive opinion pieces to contributors-retail@bizcommunity.com and international news to internationalnews@bizcommunity.com. Read "How to contribute to Biz, from op-ed pieces to news".



Weekly top stories
Retailers want Eskom to review move to weekend load-shedding

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Retailers are complaining that they are having to bear the brunt of Eskom's load-shedding over successive weekends during their peak trading season ahead of Christmas...

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Spreading the beef with a new Twitter turf twar

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The shift from electronic-commerce to "everywhere-commerce"

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USaddress.com and PayPal band together to deliver to SA

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CRM
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FMCG
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Health & Safety
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Research
Heading up the online sales - gadgets
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Jobs offered


New events to diarise
Retail Banking Digitalisation Conference 2015
Trade Conferences International - 4 Feb 2015 to 5 Feb 2015 Johannesburg

Emirates Uniform and Workwear exhibition
Global Expo Middle East - 11 Feb 2015 to 13 Feb 2015 Dubai

Stokvelex Bokone Bophirima (North West) 2015
7colors Communications - 20 Feb 2015 to 21 Feb 2015 Mafikeng

Fuel Management Conference
Mogorosi Communications - 26 Feb 2015 to 27 Feb 2015 Johannesburg

Retail World Africa 2015
Terrapinn Ltd - 10 Mar 2015 to 11 Mar 2015 Johannesburg

5th Annual EnviroMining Conference
Intelligence Transfer Centre - 18 Mar 2015 to 19 Mar 2015 Gauteng

Renewables & Energy Forum South Africa Conference
REFSA CONFERENCE - 5 May 2015 Johannesburg

18th Kenya International Trade Exhibition
Expogroup - 7 May 2015 to 9 May 2015 Nairobi

Gauteng Outdoor Expo
Outdoor Events and Exhibition Organisers - 29 May 2015 to 31 May 2015 Johannesburg

IFAT Environmental Technology Forum
MMI South Africa (Pty) Ltd - 15 Sep 2015 to 18 Sep 2015 Johannesburg

Upcoming events
Rock Your Life Summit
9 Dec 2014 Johannesburg

JoziYaka Festival
Constitution Hill South Africa - 13 Dec 2014 Johannesburg

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