South Africa news

We look at the latest developments from SPAR in the Middle East and Africa. This includes launching a new m-money payment service in South Africa and expansion in Qatar. South Africa: eWallet payments SPAR South Africa has partnered with First National Bank to create a new payment method for shoppers. [email protected] can be used to pay for purchases and make cash withdrawals through mobile pho...

South Africa-based Massmart has announced its expansion plans for the next three years. This includes new stores in its home market of South Africa and others across Africa. Increasing retail space 36% Massmart aims to open 20 new stores across Kenya, Ghana, Mozambique, Zambia and Swaziland. Eight of these are planned to open in 2018, with the remaining 12 to be completed by 2021. This will...

South Africa-based Pick n Pay is focusing on finding new ways to increase shopper loyalty by offering value in different ways. We look at how it is doing this through the introduction of two separate developments: a stokvel account and Smart Shopper promotion. Grocery stokvel account Stokvel’s are savings societies where members contribute fixed sums of money to a central fund. At the end o...

South Africa-based Shoprite continues to outperform its competitors, announcing positive H1 results. Revenue increased 6.3% to ZAR75.8 bn (US$6.5 bn), with like-for-like growth of 2%. This was driven by a strong performance at its South African supermarkets and a growing focus on its premium proposition. South African supermarkets driving performance Sales in South African supermarkets were...

SPAR South Africa has released results for the 17-week trading period that ended on 27 January 2018. Sales increased 7% to ZAR33.8 bn (US$2.9 bn) and in like-for-like terms sales increase was 6.4%. We look at what drove this and SPAR SA’s focus for the future. Results driven by Tops Liquor The positive results came from all banners but were driven by Tops Liquor. Sales remained strong at +1...

We review Walmart's fourth quarter and full year results along with the outlook for the year ahead. Walmart's key numbers Walmart's total revenue in Q4 increased by 4.1%to $136.3bn Ecommerce sales in the US up 23% Sales in its US stores and Sam's Club division increased by 3.4% and 3.3% respectively US comp store sales increased by 2.6%, broadly in line with the 2.7% growth reported i...

Retailers in South Africa are increasingly seeing shoppers look for more convenient food options, as their lives become busier. At the same time, though, shoppers are struggling with reduced spending power, due to the challenging macroeconomic environment in the country. We look at how retailers are adapting their propositions to suit these different needs. Pick n Pay: premium dining in Pic...

M-commerce is becoming increasingly important in Africa. We look at Zulzi, a South Africa-based grocery delivery app that is growing and attracting more investment. Combining personal shoppers and Uber drivers Zulzi began like Amazon as an e-commerce company selling books and electronics. In 2016 it launched a grocery delivery app to serve north Johannesburg. Since then the company has said...

South Africa-based health and beauty specialist Clicks has reported continued strong growth as part of its FY results announcement and as part of a trading update for the 20 weeks to 14 January 2018. Promotional activity drives growth Clicks reported a 14.2% increase in sales in the 20-week period. Real volume growth was 4.8%, with comparable store sales at 7.5%. Selling price inflation was...

We look at the latest updates from South African retailer Pick n Pay. This includes the appointment of a new retail managing director and the expansion of its spaza innovation programme. Growing the core South African business Pick n Pay has appointed a new retail managing director, Pedro Da Silva. Pedro has previously worked at Biedronka, where he was chief executive. His role in Pick n...