RETAIL NEWS ON FASTMOVING

With the ubiquity of smartphones – particularly in the South African marketplace – local retailers have a great opportunity to boost in-store engagement. read more

Retail giant Walmart said it entered into a strategic partnership with Microsoft for wider use of cloud and artificial intelligence technology, in a sign of major rivals of Amazon.com coming together. read more

One of Southern Africa’s leading drinks competitions, the Michelangelo International Wine and Spirits Awards, has entered into a partnership with Checkers which will give consumers greater access to the competition’s award-winning wines and spirits. The agreement will see Checkers offering a selection of Michelangelo winners in its general retail outlets and liquor stores after this year’s awards ceremony, which is to be held on 29 September. read more

DHL, the world’s leading international express services provider, today announced its partnership with e-commerce giant, MallforAfrica’s new platform, Marketplace Africa, to help online retailers bring African-made products to the US and global market.  read more

Pick n Pay is raking in the profits from Zimbabwe and its partner in the struggling country is now looking to open more stores buoyed by stronger performance from its other operations across city and resort hotels as well as agro-processing. read more

Walmart has opened another convenience store, this time launching a Walmart Fuel Station in Plano, Texas. read more

Nike has named Noel Kinder has is new chief sustainability officer. read more

South African online shopping trends tend to follow those globally, and with online wine retailers experiencing a boom in sales worldwide, the local market is expected to follow suit. In the United States alone, wine retailers experienced online sales growth of wine, beer and liquor by almost 33% in 2017 (source).  read more

Following a worldwide product recall issued by the Hungarian Food Safety Agency, and purely as a precautionary measure, Woolworths is recalling their Frozen Savoury Rice Mix product (6009173621740). read more

In-store advertising innovators Smart Media are working with Dis-Chem Pharmacies to drive awareness for two CSI campaigns, FOR YOUth and Million Comforts. Building on the theme of Youth Month that took place in June in South Africa, these campaigns are focused on benefitting critically important demographics of the country. read more

Edcon says its shelves will increasingly be stocked with locally sourced house brands, as the struggling clothing retailer continues to unwind its foreign-brand strategy. read more

Statistics show that as screen sizes decrease so do mobile checkout rates. In fact, only about 15% of mobile checkouts result in sales. Why is this? Could it be that global ecommerce has yet to successfully optimise for mobile checkout?  read more

Barnes & Noble is starting a search for its fifth CEO since 2010 following Demos Parneros’s sudden termination, irking investors looking for a steady comeback strategy in the age of Amazon. read more

Edcon Holdings’ latest recovery plan includes closing chains including Red Square cosmetics and La Senza lingerie and attempting to lure their customers to its flagship Edgars clothing stores. read more

Amazon.com is looking more and more like a traditional retailer.  read more

The super-regional shopping centre steps away from the traditional norms of marketing and shakes things up with an innovative initiative to speak to its shoppers.  read more

As South Africans brace themselves for yet another petrol price increase to a record R16 a litre, the Shoprite Group is working hard to keep prices low and subsidise prices where it can to bring relief to consumers who are feeling the effect of escalating petrol prices and other rising costs on their pockets.  read more

One of the biggest differences between the e-commerce customer experience and that of traditional, brick-and-mortar retail is that with e-commerce you don't just walk out of the store with your purchase, you must wait to have it delivered. read more

Tesco and Carrefour have announced plans to enter into a “long-term, strategic alliance”, with the aim of getting better deals from multinational suppliers, cutting costs, and combating increased competition in their domestic markets. read more

Thavhani City, the major economic centre in Thohoyandou, Limpopo, has welcomed the opening of the first Builders Express in the region in its precinct. read more

Nike has returned to growth reporting a double-digit rise in revenues during its fourth quarter thanks to strong international sales. read more

H&M plans to cut prices further as supply problems hamper the Swedish company’s ability to respond to fast-changing fashion demand, swelling its stockpiles of unsold clothing. read more

Property sector stalwart Stephan Le Roux has been appointed as the new South African Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC) president. read more

Woolworths’s ailing Australian department store chain, the value of which has already been slashed by more than R7bn, has wielded the axe once again. read more

French homeware improvement retailer Leroy Merlin will be seeking to lay a foundation in SA when it officially opens its first retail store in the second quarter of 2018. read more

The UK fashion market could fall in value by £350 million in the next 12 months, according to new data. read more

With online shopping taking the retail market by storm, it’s not always easy to get new foot traffic to your shopping mall store. Or existing foot traffic for that matter. It may seem as though becoming e-commerce only is the more lucrative option right now, but with the right shopping centre advertising ideas, you will be able to be as successful in-store as your brand is online. It’s all about your platforms and messaging. read more

The crisis of leadership created at Steinhoff Africa Retail (Star) subsidiary Tekkie Town following the immediate resignation of its CEO and chief operating officer appears to have been compounded, following news that a raft of senior managers have resigned as well. read more

Investment company Long4Life is delighted to announce its acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Rage Distribution Proprietary Limited (Rage). read more

Connecting with the consumer is front and centre for retailers and customer-centric digital technology is just as critical but it's way more than just figuring out display location, hardware and content. read more

Ikea, the world’s biggest furniture retailer, plans to use only renewable and recycled materials in its products by 2030, in the latest commitment by a global store group to reducing its impact on the environment.  read more

Macy’s has taken a minority stake in a company that helps emerging brands build out brick-and-mortar stores with minimal effort. read more

China’s largest retailer JD.com has launched a $550 million (£414 million) partnership with Google which will see the former sell products through Google Shipping across the world. read more

MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet scooped three major awards at the Loyalty Magazine Awards held in London recently. The fundraising programme was awarded Best CSR Initiative Linked to Loyalty, Best Long-Term Loyalty Programme and also received the prestigious Regional Loyalty Champions of the Year for Middle East & Africa award.  read more

Although traditional retail stores dominate the South African market, consumers are choosing the online option for cheaper technical goods purchases. read more

The JSE’s general retail index, which includes the likes of Woolworths and Mr Price, has posted its worst rolling three-month period since the end of 2013, as depressed consumer confidence and a brewing US-China trade war ruin projections of a significant uptick in consumer spending. read more

Despite a challenging economy and disruptions, townships have become hubs for big development in retail and brands. read more

Tapping the shopping bag icon will display more details on the products featured on Instagram Stories from brands.  read more

Media24 and Takealot.com announced that they will merge their online fashion brands, Spree and Superbalist, creating an exciting online fashion platform for South African consumers.  read more

The massive spike in Cape Town’s bottled water sales, which increased by 118% in December and January after the announcement of Day Zero, has dropped drastically and some outlets are selling stock at half-price to clear the shelves. read more

The partnership between Pick n Pay franchise co-owners Gary Williams and Julian Hobson 10 years ago at their store in Fish Hoek, Cape Town, has culminated in job creation of 90 new jobs at their new premises in Simon’s Town.  read more

Asda has linked up with tech firm Foodmaestro to introduce a new online nutritional search aid that supports customers with complex dietary needs. read more

April’s increase in VAT and fuel prices knocked retail sales growth down to a ninth of the 4.5% expected by economists. read more

Richemont, the Swiss luxury brands group run by the Rupert family, has taken another step in its aggressive plan to build a formidable retail network.  read more

Forbes’ richest people in the world list says Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, earns $US107.4 million per day, so he must be doing something right.  read more

Kering’s fashion powerhouse Gucci is bringing more manufacturing in-house as luxury firms step up efforts to meet demand from Chinese shoppers with slicker operations. read more

Research shows consumers shop for longer, spend more money and have an enhanced shopping experience if they’re exposed to music.  read more

Legwear specialists FALKE South Africa will this month be expanding its global footprint when they establish a retail presence in Australia.  read more

After generously raising its interim dividend by 22%, Mr Price cut its final dividend by 6%. read more

Ikea has announced a global commitment to remove all single-use plastic products by 2020 as part of its updated sustainability strategy. read more

With retailers such as Toys 'R' Us, Sears, and Claire's closing shop, the industry has learned a big lesson this year. No, it's not that retail is dying. It's that consumer expectations have changed when it comes to the brick-and-mortar retail experience. read more

The prestigious NACS Insight industry body has announced its finalists for the 2018 International Convenience Retailer of the Year Awards and local entrant, FreshStop at Caltex Fort Gale store in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, made the cut. read more

Sainsbury’s has continued to enhance its in-store offering to attract shoppers, this time teaming up with Unilever to launch ice cream parlours in five of its supermarkets. read more

Woolworths plans to phase out nonrecyclable plastic packaging for its own products — as well as plastic shopping bags, straws and earbuds — by 2022. read more

Steinhoff Africa Retail (Star) is planning to distance itself from its scandal-ridden parent by changing its name back to the original Pepkor. read more

The opening of Shoprite De Doorns on Thursday, 24 May 2018, has created 53 new jobs in the local community. read more

South African sales would have been higher were it not for the listeriosis outbreak, CEO Graham O’Connor says. read more

Twelve million people spent nearly R2 billion at Ballito Junction Regional Mall during its first year. This iconic young shopping centre is already outperforming in its industry, market segment, and region, and has become a firm favourite in its immediate market and beyond. read more

Setting up a stall in a retail mall is a challenging task. You’re surrounded by so many incredible brands and concepts similar to yours, so it’s important to recognise the need to go the extra mile to attract customers to your store.  read more

Interim profit could fall by nearly 70%, thanks to restructuring costs, the Walmart-owned retailer says. read more

Luxury fashion retailer Balenciaga has become Kering’s fastest growing asset thanks to increasing interest from millennials.  read more

Kohl’s is reinventing its loyalty strategy by taking the best elements of its three rewards programs and rolling them into one.  read more

Access to banking services just got easier and more inclusive with Shoprite Money - a new mobile transactional banking service which is available to everyone, even those without existing bank accounts. read more

South Africa’s market-leading direct retail group, Verimark, today announced that notwithstanding the challenging economic environment in South Africa, the company has delivered one of its best performances to date, as reflected by growth in sales and profitability for the year ended 28 February 2018.  read more

Tesco will remove best before dates on the packaging of nearly 70 of its fruit and vegetable lines as it aims to reduce food waste.  read more

H&M is looking at SA as a potential supplier, with executives from the world’s second-largest clothing retailer visiting some of the country’s main cities.  read more

South African retail giant Woolworths said that it had discontinued the role of regional chief executive in its Australian operations in a bid to simplify the leadership structure in that country following a strategic cost review. read more

Over the last decade, the retail industry has seen a shift in how it operates. The exponential increase in online shopping has had a significant impact on how we buy our products. Long gone are the days when purchasing items was done from Monday to Saturday, between a rigid office-hours timeline.  read more

Pick n Pay has relaunched its fresh offering, introducing both new product lines and new packaging, underpinned by its new fresh promise – Perfectly fresh, whatever it takes. The lines will offer something for all tastes and budgets and will be rolled out from this month. read more

Amazon is expanding its cashierless store format outside of its Seattle home base. read more

Gen Xers are growing older with each passing day. And aging right along with them are two of the most talked about cohorts – millennials and Generation Z. If you work in marketing, you can’t go a day without hearing about them. And we all know their narrative. In addition to wielding lots of spending power, they’re unique and perplexing. They’re enigmas. They’re changing retail. read more

The South African Council of Shopping Centre’s (SACSC) Annual Research Conference celebrated its eighth anniversary recently with more than 270 delegates representing the country’s most respected companies and brands, in attendance.  read more

Industry observers continue to sound the death knell for retail, citing increasing growth in online sales, the shuttering of many a brick-and-mortar chain, and changing consumer shopping behaviours. They've got it all wrong, though: Retail and online operations are not at all at odds with each other. In fact, the digital and physical spaces can and should augment each other. read more

Burberry chief executive officer Marco Gobbetti is seeking to enlist investor support for his turnaround plan with a £150m share buyback. read more

As retail sales become the last piece in the GDP puzzle, industry analysts anticipate a weak outcome for the first quarter. read more

Retailers have been discounting since the dawn of the grocery store. Brands relied on couponing and sales as an easy way to differentiate themselves from generic store-brand options and as a way to get consumers to make the switch from a competing brand to give theirs a try.  read more

Major fashion retailers have promised to cease selling mohair products after an explicit expose released by PETA showed South African farmers violently mistreating animals. read more

Following the recent release of its latest retail trade sales publication, Statistics South Africa has compiled a new fact sheet focusing on the biggest aspects of the retail industry. read more

South Africa’s retail sector is well-developed compared to the rest of the continent, and still has the edge over international competitors when it comes to expansion into Africa.  read more

Macy's announced the purchase of Story, a New York City retailer with a rotating selection of themed products. The idea of a heightened in-store experience might be just what the traditional department store chain needs to breathe new life into the physical store. read more

Smartphone shopping is expected to peak globally in the coming few years with 43 percent surveyed already making purchases on their phone weekly. read more

Community food gardens are gearing up to sell their vegetables at selected Checkers stores on Friday (18 May) to raise much-needed awareness ahead of World Hunger Day (28 May). read more

The quarterly labour force survey revealing employment trends will be the main economic data this week.  read more

Spaza shops, with an estimated annual revenue of R7 billion, are a significant retail channel in South Africa, according to Euromonitor International’s senior research analyst, Christy Tawii. read more

The upcoming royal wedding is expected to generate £561 million in retail sales in the UK, as fashion sales thanks to “the Meghan effect” skyrocket. read more

Pop-up stores are wonderful business opportunities when you have the right location. Much like any other retail stores, a pop-up version requires just as much planning, branding and research.  read more

The challenge of feeding around 60 disabled children with three nutritious meals seven days a week is not for the fainthearted. But thanks to dedication, vision and creative solutions, the food garden at the Star Uplifting Centre in Dimbaza, near King William’s Town, is making it happen.  read more

South African women currently account for 47% of the country’s ecommerce market, according to a survey released by We Are Social which measures online shopping activity in South Africa annually. read more

The review will consider expanding the list of 19 basic food items that are VAT zero-rated, in light of the recent VAT hike. read more

Clicks CEO David Kneale has urged South African retailers to do more to provide health cover for their lower-paid workers, arguing this will raise productivity and improve staff retention. read more

In an unprecedented move, it’s thought Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) will cut its dividend for the first time ever next year as the retailer struggles to get shoppers in stores. read more

UK retailer Waitrose has announced that it is extending its surplus food redistribution platform to all of its full-size supermarkets by the end of the year. read more

This May, Maerua Mall celebrates Mother’s Day – the time of year we honour and thank the moms who changed us, clothed us, fed us, put band-aids on our ‘einas’, taught us the difference between right and wrong, and sacrificed their own comfort and happiness to make our lives better.  read more

Sage Kitchen, the brainchild of husband and wife duo Brenda and Colin, started as a small business in their home kitchen. Today, the business is a supplier to Pick n Pay for their Pick Local range of products with a difference, that make a difference. read more

While mall occupancy levels and foot traffic have decreased in some malls, other malls have experienced excellent growth over the six months to December. So, what does this mean for brands? Brands need to be where the consumers are and what better place than the mall environment. John Faia: GM of Mall Ads™ unpacks the status quo. read more

SE-listed, Botswana-based grocery chain Choppies’ share price jumped 8.3% to R2.60 after it released its delayed interim results, showing 22% growth in both sales and net profit.  read more

In a first for fashion ecommerce in South Africa, a team of editors at Apple has selected the Spree App as App of the Day. read more

Bata Heritage is getting ready for the Star Wars fever announcing its launch of the limited-edition “Star Wars x Bata Heritage SS18 capsule collection” on 4 May 2018, which will feature characters from the movie on the Bata Bullets and Bata Tennis capsule collection for the Spring/Summer 2018 edition. read more

Ackermans opened its 700th store in the Rustenburg Platinum Square. read more

The company plans to list on the JSE on May 9. read more