Using a cross section of Shoprite and Checkers customers in what was reportedly the first mobile voucher study undertaken in South Africa, over 68% of participants said they are very interested in receiving mobile vouchers.

US retailer Urban Outfitters has employed Starmount to develop an in-store mobile point-of-sale (PoS) application.

According to Asda, its online price checker, Asda Price Guarantee, saved its shoppers £75m in a seven week period between May and June.

Discount supermarket chain Franklins has been acquired by its former wholesale supplier, Metcash Trading Ltd, in an unsolicited $215 million offer to its current owner, South African chain Pick n Pay.

Webling Interactive has officially released Coles Shopmate, an iPhone app allowing shoppers to check the prices of more than 5000 products targeted to the users location. The app also includes a shopping list and recipes.

McDonald's Holdings Company Japan is to introduce a mobile phone ordering system at the chain in the next three years, Nikkei reported.

Foreign currency and local enthusiasm for the Fifa Soccer World Cup have significantly contributed to the bottom line of some businesses in the retailing and hospitality industries in the first week of the tournament.

373,000 foreigners are expected to visit SA during the World Cup. On average they will stay for 18 days, go to 5 matches and spend R30,200 each.
 

Marks & Spencer saved £35m last year through efficiency improvements in its supply chain including warehouse consolidation and implementation of a number of efficiency projects. In its results for the year to 27 March, it said the first phase of its warehouse consolidation programme was well under way with the closure of 21 of the 110 sites.

Massdiscounters, which includes Game and Dion Wired stores, confirmed on Tuesday, 1 June 2010, that as a result of its investment in regional distribution centres, new technology and the consolidation of workflows, a number of positions have been made redundant and letters of retrenchment have been issued to affected employees.

There are 5.3 million internet users in South Africa, up 15% on last year. For the first time, more than 1 in 10 South Aficans are online. (World Wide Worx, Jan 2010)
 

There are few things more satisfying than seeing a good idea spread, and that's just what we had occasion to witness recently.

Value retailer Mr Price appears to be gaining market share at the expense of rival Woolworths, which is battling to retain its traditional customers, an analyst said on Wednesday.

An urban retail and readership survey has revealed that 87% of purchase decision makers use advertising to plan their shopping — good news for the advertising sector, which is finding itself having to justify spending on it.

Supermarket chain Pick n Pay said on Wednesday that Chief Finance Controller Bakar Jakoet had been appointed CFO-designate to take over from Dennis Cope when he retires at the end of April 2011, at which time Bakar will be appointed to the board of Pick n Pay Stores Limited.

SPAR Group, the company supplying and branding SA’s Spar, Tops and Build it stores, will next month open its first branded pharmacy.

The Toronto Coffee Conspiracy, made up of seven independent shops around Toronto, has created a "disloyalty card" that launched in April.

A few months ago London businessman, Gwilym Davies, implemented a rather unique idea for his cafe: the disloyalty card.

Building materials retailer Cashbuild expected to wait a year for a significant improvement in trading conditions, CEO Pat Goldrick said at the end of April, as the home improvement market struggles to shake off the effects of the economic downturn.

Amazon.com Inc. has filed a complaint seeking to block an effort by the North Carolina state government to force the company to turn over personal information for residents who have purchased anything from the company since 2003.

In a major blow to Wal-Mart Stores Inc, a discrimination lawsuit against the retailer can proceed as a class-action case covering more than 1 million female employees, a U.S. court ruled on Monday.

Best Buy (US consumer electronics retailer) is contemplating selling electric cars at its outlets.

The Boys in Blue have come up with a different approach to going large in Africa it seems, with the announcement this week that Pick n Pay Zambia (Ltd), incorporated in July 2009, has plans to open seven stores in the first five years of operations, creating an expected 1000 jobs, and an envisaged total of 13 stores in ten years.

Ukash, the world's fastest growing online cash-payments company, has signed a deal with Shoprite, to enable consumers in South Africa to purchase Ukash vouchers from 560 supermarkets and hypermarkets.

Pick n Pay and Shoprite continue to belt it out in the competitive food retail arena with Pick n Pay having taken Checkers to the Advertising Standards Authority over a TV advert.

IT CAN only be a matter of time before Wal-Mart lands on these shores. Sooner or later the world’s largest retailer will extend its reach to Africa.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is looking to export products worth "hundreds of millions of dollars" from India as the world's largest retailer wants to make the country a major sourcing hub, the chief executive of its Asian operations said Tuesday.

The Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) would launch the Green Star SA rating tool for new retail centre developments within the next two weeks, and expected interested parties to start registering for certification of proposed shopping centres by the end of April.

THE New Clicks group – which a couple of years ago was looking tired and uninspired - is looking like working its health care focus into a very convincing retail mix.

1.7 million South African households live in shacks, matchbox or RDP houses, of which 1.1 million have at least one working television set in their home.

The Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA) has agreed to merge with the Furniture Traders' Association in an attempt to address the fragmentation and duplication of efforts and costs across the retail industry.

On Thursday, 24 March 2010 First National Bank (FNB) launched PayPal to bring global e-commerce into the country, a move that should ease unnecessary complications around online international payments.

Social commerce is defined as a strategy to facilitate customer interactions to maximize business results. Bazaarvoice.com is a social commerce platform that helps businesses capture, display, share, and analyze customer conversations online.

Either you shape up or you ship out as the Consumer Goods Council of SA (CGCSA) redefines its purpose in the industry and meets strategic objectives.

Blippy.com is a social networking site that encourages people to see and discuss what their friends and others are buying on services such as iTunes, Netflix, eBay, Amazon, and more.

Square, a new payments device due to be launched in 2010, is causing quite a stir, according to Christine Bardwell, Ovum retail technology analyst.

The latest UK research by insight and database marketing firm, Transactis has found that companies are missing valuable targeting opportunities and could actually be putting some consumers off due to ‘data wastage’ – the failure to make use of the different pieces of customer data that various parts of the company hold.

A week before Valentine's Day, fragrance retailer Sephora installed a series of machines at various Metro stations in Paris dedicated to selling Calvin Klein's CK One scent in a special, portable size.

Boxer is one of several retailers and cash n carrys to benefit from the patronage of the eBuhleni faction of the Nazareth Baptist Church, also known as Shembe.

Following in the footsteps of consumers, large international companies are now becoming active participants in social media. A recent Burson-Marsteller study found that 79 percent of the largest 100 companies in the Fortune Global 500 index are using at least one of the most popular social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or corporate blogs.

New Jersey-based Vanity Barcodes has launched a service to help businesses take advantage of what it considers the little-known marketing potential of the decorative barcode.

Focused on optimizing the online experience around its brands, Sears Holdings has taken a big step to engage customers in a meaningful dialogue and capitalize on the social sphere’s growing impact on Web shopping.

Local software firm Mobilitrix has begun rolling out digital vouchers to the South African retail market, after signing a partnership deal with UCS, a point-of-sale solutions provider.

While internet use has shot up dramatically in SA over the past few years, the online shopping market is small by world standards.

There are 1.8 million women with children under the age of two in South Africa. 64% of them are single

Home Depot Inc. will hand over 10,000 portable devices to its store associates in 2010 to help them stock shelves, locate inventory, make telephone calls and check out customers throughout the store.

Superfreakonmics, the best-selling book by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner (ISBN 978-0-06-088957-9) would cost you R225 at Loot.co.za, R289 at kalahari.net and R422 at Exclusive Books. If you lived in the US, you could purchase it at Amazon for $13.96, roughly R105. (Company websites).
 

UK Retailer, Asda has started its trial for reusable fabric conditioner packaging within five of its stores, including its Barnsley outlet, according to the IGD grocery think tank. 

During the checkout process today, consumers often leave the store with a paper receipt longer than their arm.

For businesses to survive economic drought and 2009 hangovers requires that brands return to ‘old-fashioned values'; consumers are now drawn to more authentic brands and business practices.

The economic tumult of the resent past has affected every facet of corporate operations, and it has not spared IT. In McKinsey’s fourth annual survey on information technology strategy and spending, conducted in October 2009, executives in the IT function were surveyed about their companies’ business technology agendas, the impact of the recession on their IT organizations, and their approaches to developing and executing IT strategies.

Look out for the following top consumer trends in 2010:

This month the Competition Tribunal described remarks made by Massmart chairman Mark Lamberti’s as "sinister".

Pick n Pay has embarked on a project to replace outdated harmful ozone-depleting HCFC-based refrigeration with energy-efficient German refrigeration technology.

Just 40% of consumers say companies frequently or always meet their service expectations, according to Accenture's survey of more than 5,000 people in 12 countries.

British American Tobacco (BAT) SA is fighting for its constitutional right to market cigarettes.

USA - Marketers are facing the litmus test of whether their brands truly are indispensable as retailers show a growing willingness to boot even major, well-advertised brands to improve leverage, margins and lower prices.

The global downturn has shifted executives' perceptions about the issues that matter most to the public, according to a recent McKinsey survey.

Eco-friendly managers and staff are the key to making a retailer go green, according to a study listing 15 of the world's top eco-friendly retailers in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia.

Mystery surrounds a decision by SA's market-leading producer of sunflower cooking oil to import 110000t of sunflower seed while the country expects a surplus of 270000t. KwaZulu Natal-based family business Willowton Oil announced that a shipment of 22600t of seed was arriving in SA from Romania.

A while back we invited responses to the article at the bottom of this page, entitled “Food Retailers too Strong.” We mentioned that it provides an interesting perspective on the hot topic of food prices, but that it is interesting to note that while this message would explain why prices are kept low, it does not necessarily tell us why the retailers have been increasing prices – which is what the Competition Commission’s enquiries are meant to be testing.

All PIN-based electronic transactions, including ATM transactions, were again affected by Bankserv system failures, reaching a peak on Tuesday 3 November 2009.

BrandNew Stores aims to turn fleeting pop-up shops into a chain concept, creating fixed spaces where brands can temporarily present themselves in a regular retail environment.

Britain experienced a sci-fi milestone of the supermarket kind last month - supermarket chain Tesco opened an Express store in Northhampton with not a cashier in sight.

Ammo, wiWallet's* first mobile wallet, launched by Brandnew Marketing on behalf of LifeWorld, a company that offers customer-based loyalty programs, is currently being introduced to Cape Town through a series of activations.

South Africa has become the 10th largest user of Twitter in the world, while the country has the most Facebook users on the continent, even surpassing Egypt, says a report on the IOL site.

The shift to digital from physical books will ultimately hurt traditional brick-and-mortar book sellers, analysts said Friday on the heels of Barnes & Noble Inc., the largest U.S. bookstore chain, launching its new e-reader.

For most retail stores, staying in business for only a few days would be considered a major flop.

Raymond Ackerman will be retiring as chairman of Pick n Pay Stores

A ban on certain trucks using the country's roads is coming.

Dubbed 'NOWISM', this mega trend has, and will continue to have, a big impact on everything from your corporate culture to customer relationships to product innovation to tactical campaigns.

Massmart, SA's largest wholesaler, said last week it would spend a fraction of its R380m capital expenditure to acquire large independent retailers next year.

Pick n Pay walked away with the Overall Grocery Shopping Award at The Times and Sowetan 2009 Retail Awards last week.

The National Credit Regulator (NCR) regulates and monitors registered credit bureaus and the quality of the data they create, based on credit information received from credit providers on a monthly basis.

Kmart announced in late September that it was going national with its Smart Assist Savings Card, which provides customers in the US who have lost their jobs with a 20 percent discount on roughly 1,500 private label items in the chain's stores. 

An Australian town pulled all bottled water from its shelves in September and replaced it with refillable bottles in what is believed to be a world-first ban.

There is sufficient evidence that retailers' purchasing power is being used at the expense of their suppliers, and in the long run this can have negative consequences leading to food shortages.

Higher food import tariffs aimed at protecting local producers — and new export taxes on primary produce aimed at boosting local manufacture — are on the cards, judging by a confidential department of trade & industry (DTI) document.

Accenture Media Services presented figures to the European Commission this month which show the extent to which companies have voluntarily restricted the foods they advertise to under-12s altogether or only to ‘better for you' options.

Kraft Foods Inc plans to cut its supplier base in half, a move that would affect more than 30,000 companies.

92% of mortgage credit granted in 2008 was to individuals with a gross income of more than R15,000 per month.
 

Most people order pizzas when they're at home or at work. Aiming to broaden those delivery horizons, Domino's Pizza in the Netherlands recently placed white doors in the park and on the beach. 

Supply chain management business Super Group announced last week that it had disposed of its retail hardware business Mica, to Servistar, which trades as Builder's Express for a sum of R27m.

5.6 million South African adults personally own, use or maintain a car. The most popular make of car is Toyota, at 1.4 million adults.
 

"Have you forgotten where the vegetables on your table come from?"

The standard definition of a recession is that it entails at least two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth or declining GDP at the aggregate level. However, such a general assessment may hide important differences in the way different sectors of the economy are experiencing the downturn in economic conditions. The table below summarises the diversity in the experiences of the different sectors as distinguished in the official statistics.

Consumer credit continued to slow in the closing quarter of 2008, the National Credit Regulator (NCR) said in its second Consumer Credit Report released on Wednesday, 26 August 2009. 

Trade Centre, the FMCG company owned by Metcash Africa, has become the first wholesaler to use electronic shelf labeling (ESL).

To gauge US consumers’ strain, look no farther than the rows and rows of plastic bags awaiting layaway payments at Kmart.

Forty-five companies in the clothing and textile sector are being investigated or prosecuted for job-sapping customs fraud, Ebrahim Patel, the minister of economic planning, told Parliament on 20 August 2009, in a report on the country's response to the global economic crisis.

Procter & Gamble this week selected PODatGREY as its shopper-marketing agency in South Africa after a four-way pitch.

A variety of rucksack and belt adornments, cords for whistles and lapel pins - bearing the words "Made in China" - are on sale in South Africa by Global Brands, a Fifa licence holder.

What if a box could be more?

If billboards can be used to give out free samples of scarves, caps and gloves, why not a little ‘sympvertising’ in the form of a branded dinghy? Which is just what Indian mobile provider Aircel recently did in Mumbai in the days leading up to this year's monsoons.

Frugal American consumers have jilted their favourite national brands for food, household, health and personal care products, but are far more reluctant to switch to store brands on purchases for children and pets, according to the latest research from North American targeted marketing leader ICOM, a division of Dallas-based Epsilon Targeting. 

British confectionery maker Cadbury said on Wednesday that interim net profits almost tripled thanks to a strong performance in emerging markets and its chocolate division.

Two darlings of the internet are joining together. Amazon.com announced last week that is has reached an agreement to buy Zappos.com, the online footwear and clothing retailer that has created rabid loyalty among its customers and employees.

New technology upgrades are under way at the Johnson & Johnson manufacturing facility in East London as the plant gears up to incorporate two new production lines from Cape Town.

Kraft SA is unloading iconic gum brand Beechies, in the belief that it does not fit into its strategy for the long term growth and competiveness of its confectionary brands, which include such posh choccies as Toblerone and Cote D'Or.

In an interesting experiment, Asda, which is what Wal-Mart is called in the U.K., is turning over some of the buying decisions to its customers. Asda will start to e-mail to a group of 18,000 customers, which it has termed its "Pulse of the Nation" group.

According to the findings of a study entitled “Great Retail Shopping Experiences in North America" not all great experiences deliver impact for retailers in terms of shopper loyalty and intent to return. In fact, of the 26 "great shopping experiences" assessed in the study, fewer than half measurably improved loyalty. 

Cutting both costs and carbon emissions, British supermarket Waitrose shipped its new range of ‘Virtue’ wines from Chile in 24,000 liter flexitanks and bottled them in the UK. One tank equals 32,000 bottles—or 16 tons of glass—that no longer need to be shipped. In addition, the bottles used are lightweight and made of 60% recycled material. 

Food democracy, the growing trend whereby consumers are flexing their muscles and influencing decisions made by big food retailers and producers, is finding a foothold in South Africa.

Retail group Pick n Pay has announced the appointment of Richard van Rensburg as an independent non-executive director and Suzanne Ackerman-Berman and Jonathan Ackerman as alternate directors of the group.

South Africa's big four supermarket chains (Pick 'n Pay, Shoprite-Checkers, Woolworths and Spar) as well as major wholesale retailers (Massmart and Metcash) are to be investigated for anti-competitive behaviour, which affects food prices.

The newly -constructed R2,3b multi-level Central Terminal Building (CTB) at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, which forms part of the major upgrade that the airport is presently undergoing, became fully operational on 1 April 2009, creating a link between the existing two terminals and taking the airport into a new era. 

The number of privately held businesses in South Africa that support black economic empowerment (BEE) is falling, according to an annual survey by international accounting firm Grant Thornton.

Pick n Pay chairman Raymond Ackerman said he was sick and tired of the criticism leveled against supermarkets by the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) and pointed to the group's shrinking profit margins to prove it had not been involved in any collusion to push up prices.

Following in the footsteps of its brick-and-mortar brethren, Amazon has quietly moved into the private label business.

71% of South African adults watched SABC1 in the past seven days. 16% watched no TV at all.
 

International demand for South African wines has topped domestic needs for the first time, said export marketing agent Wines of South Africa (Wosa).

cookprint - n. The energy and other resources used while preparing meals.

Give us a break in rents, Starbucks asks landlo

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, and local Indian partner Bharti Group opened their first wholesale outlet in India as rising disposable incomes boost demand in the world’s second-fastest-growing major economy.

Half of men, and three quarters of South African women listen to gospel music. Next most popular among men are House Music and Kwaito. Women prefer love songs and ballads.
 

California-based Exuve is a new fashion label for women and men that sells dresses, tops, skirts, jackets and bottoms designed and voted on by the crowds.

Wal-Mart is not the first retailer to decide against reporting monthly same-store sales numbers but being the biggest means it is going to get a lot of attention for doing so.

U.S. retailer, Kroger appears to be in the middle of an aggressive SKU rationalization program, significantly reducing the number of offerings store-wide. Vendors say the company is putting more focus on minimum packout requirements, with an eye to driving efficiency at the shelf.

U.S. retailer Target dropped its price-matching program in 2002. But now it looks as though the retailer may be on the verge of bringing it back. Target has tested the program in two markets since March 15 and began a third in its own Minneapolis backyard on May 1.

MASS retailer Massmart was continuing with its strategy of investing for the future despite the recession in the retail sector but would change its tactics to take advantage of new opportunities, CEO Grant Pattison said yesterday. He said the company wanted to take advantage of the short-term opportunities that had presented themselves during the economic slowdown. “Change tactics, not your strategy.” 

Targeting the more than 2 billion literate mobile phone subscribers in the developing world, txteagle aims to help alleviate high unemployment levels in many rural areas of countries like Kenya with a crowdsourcing approach that offers new ways to earn extra money.

Despite the current economic turmoil and consumers' shrinking disposable income, the Spar Group performed well, the listed grocery distributor said on Tuesday. Spar was releasing its interim results for the six months ended March 31, 2009.

Nokia's profit plummeted 90 percent in the first quarter as demand for cellphones continued to weaken amid a slump, the company said yesterday. The world's top cellphone maker said net profit was only €122 million (R1.5 billion) compared with €1.2 billion in the same period last year.

42% of South African young adults (aged 20-24), and 53% of those aged 65+ have an ATM card.
 

Most garments produced by a company called Icebreaker now feature a unique ‘Baacode’ which can be entered on Icebreaker's website to trace the wool in a garment to one of 120 sheep stations in the Southern Alps of New Zealand.

Recent television advertisement for Fruit & Veg City Holdings (Pty) Limited made the claim that it is “the largest retailer of fresh produce in South Africa”.

39% of South Africans eat chocolate, chips, ice-cream or sweets at least 4 times a week.
 

Fruit farmers in South Africa have been warned that a new strain of fruit fly is nearing the borders of the country.

China's exports plunge 25% as demand drops

Brewing giant SABMiller PLC is to cut costs sharply in its most profitable market of South Africa to boost marketing ahead of the opening of a rival brewery this year just south of Johannesburg.

Over two million households live in shacks. 41% of them are in Gauteng.

Limpopo Province will soon be home to a R1.2 billion shopping centre that is expected to enhance the local economy of the area through job creation, empowerment and consumer spend. Situated in Polokwane, the province's capital city, the Mall of the North is expected to create some 1500 to 2000 permanent jobs as well as 600 temporary jobs.

On average, those South Africans with a per capita income of less than R20 per day spend R4.40 per day on food.
 

Kellogg's Company in the United States has announced a new space-saving box that gives consumers a glimpse of the possible future for the cereal aisle.

There's nothing like the convenience of shopping online; then again, there's also nothing like the instant gratification of bringing home a purchase from the store. Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that Sears is dabbling with some experiments to combine the best of both worlds.

Ellerines had retrenched more than 2 000 workers in the past year and closed 81 stores as new owner African Bank Investments Limited (Abil) moved in to execute a cost cutting programme at the furniture retailer.

British organisation IGD’s has conducted research into the UK convenience market and it defines a convenience store according to three criteria:

Realising that green concerns are here to stay, British media agency Curb offers nothing but low-impact advertising. Its clean advertising service uses rainwater to clean logos into grubby pavements, and has been joined by five other services that are both novel and easy on the environment:

New Clicks Holdings has been recognised in three categories in this year’s CRF Leadership Excellence Awards:

Grocers Shoprite and Spar are enhancing their distribution capacity while Pick n Pay is gradually scrapping supplier deliveries to stores in favour of its own centralised, one-truck model in a bid to boost profit.

Generation Y is rewriting the rules about food and eating in the U.S., according to the ‘How Gen Y Eats Culinary Trend Mapping Report’ from the Center for Culinary Development (CCD) and Packaged Facts.

One of the most common references in media and marketing circles is a casual reference to the current generations using demographic nicknames.

Wellness Warehouse closed its Johannesburg store on Christmas Eve as a tough consumer market and poor location combined to make it unviable for the big box health and beauty retailer.

FOOD retailer Pick n Pay has summoned its suppliers to an urgent meeting to discuss high and rising food prices, which have continued upwards despite a recent fall in fuel prices. 

Retail trade figures for the three months ending November 2008 have dropped by 4% compared to the same period in 2007, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reported on Wednesday, 21 January 2009.

Two of the country's biggest retailers, Pick n Pay and Woolworths say that consumers are still buying, but are more careful with how they spend their money.

Look out for the following top trends in 2009:

Nick Badminton, CEO of South Africa's Pick n Pay Stores, has been honoured with an international accolade for excellence in retail by the retail industry umbrella group, the National Retail Federation (NRF). 

WiWallet was launched commercially in August with a number of small retailers and restaurants in Cape Town.

METRO Group unveiled its Future Store in May in Germany, as its innovation testing ground with:

Online retailer, kalahari.net, has launched a pioneering payment solution to address online security concerns and make online shopping accessible to everyone that has a cellphone.

The number of South Africans who use their cellphones to access the internet now exceeds the number of those who rely on traditional desktop means of connecting to the World Wide Web.

Retail Ready / Shelf Ready Packaging refers to the containers and packaging for retail goods which are ready to be displayed instantly or with little set up for retail consumption by consumers.

In real terms, South African wine lovers have never found wine "cheaper" than it is today.

The leaders of 26 African countries agreed last month to form a unified free trade bloc that would create the largest free trade area in Africa with an estimated combined GDP of US$650 billion.

Mr Price Group Ltd results for the half year ended September 2008 report retail sales growing 18.6% to R3.9 billion for the period.

South Africa's retail sales fell for the fifth month running in September, official data showed on Wednesday, pointing to depressed consumer demand and raising chances of an early interest rate cut.

Recent research by Unilever and TNS Research Surveys has found that SA black middle class women's spending power was R120 billion in 2008.

Founded in 1993 by two brothers, Brian and Mike Coppin, the retailer has grown from a one-store operation in Cape Town to the largest specialist seller of fruit, vegetables and other fresh produce items in South Africa, with a total 100+ stores and an annual turnover in excess of 2.1 billion.

The opening of the new Woolworths Wonderboom Junction on 23 October marks another important milestone for South Africa’s leading quality retailer.

Pick n Pay and BP have combined forces in a pilot programme set to change the face of petroleum retailing and convenience shopping in South Africa.

Reflecting the fact that women make the majority of consumer purchase decisions these days, a number of companies have begun exhibiting signs of female fever.

Ecovative Design has developed an organic alternative to traditional insulation products.

A 1,950m2 unique Pick n Pay concept store will anchor the R280 million Morningside Shopping Centre redevelopment in Sandton, which is set to open in June 2009.

A North Carolina company is giving consumers a way to buy what it calls the ultimate fan collectible: the songs themselves.

About 10 million high energy consuming light bulbs will be replaced nationally with energy saving bulbs, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka announced on Tuesday. 

SA communications company ZOK Cellular has introduced an entrepreneurial project that will supply communities with essential retail, financial and communications services. The ZOK facility is a compact multi-function business unit that operates out of a refurbished shipping container. The name is taken from the initials of the three original partners - the Zion Christian Church, and top local football clubs Orlando Pirates and Kaiser Chiefs.

Walmart executives have unveiled Walmart Smart Network, described as the first "shopper-intelligent network at retail." 

AMR Research fielded a quantitative study of 251 US food and beverage companies in May 2008, with the goal of understanding the current state of the food supply chain and what actions companies can take today to improve performance.

Cash retailer Pep, traditionally targeted at parents, has begun opening stand-alone cellphone stores in order to better capture the youth market. Marcus Banga, the marketing director, said cellphone and airtime sales in the 1 400 Pep clothing stores already made up 30% of annual turnover of R8 billion.

In just three years Soweto has become home to four major shopping malls. Between them, Protea Gardens, Baramall, Jabulani and Maponya are notably changing consumer purchasing behaviour in the area.

Legislation passed in 2003 obliges shoppers to pay for thicker plastic shopping bags. After an initial substantial drop, usage has climbed steadily. It is possible that people have now become accustomed to paying for the bags and are not as diligent in taking along their own bags when shopping.