Editorial Features

Women in Retail: Women leading retail

Written on 03 July 2026. Posted in Editorial Features.

Women leading retail From the shop floor to the boardroom, South African women are shaping the future of retail through resilience, leadership and an extraordinary ability to make the complex look effortless. Behind South Africa’s retail buyers’ offices, board rooms, tills, fitting rooms, pharmacy counters and supermarket aisles stands a simple fact: women are not merely part of retail – they are its majority.

SUPPLY CHAIN: FARM TO FORK FRESH PRODUCE

Written on 02 July 2026. Posted in Editorial Features.

Ever-changing supply chains from field to consumer Fresh produce follows a far more complex journey than the phrase ‘farm to fork’ suggests. Before fruit and vegetables reach supermarket shelves, they pass through growers, packhouses, transport operators, distribution centres and retailers, with every stage influencing freshness, quality and food safety. The pressure on this supply chain has never been greater. Retailers must reduce waste, improve efficiency, meet increasingly stringent sustainability standards and satisfy consumers who expect fresher products, greater transparency and...

SUPPLY CHAIN: From village shop to smart warehouse

Written on 01 July 2026. Posted in Editorial Features.

The innovations reshaping retail supply chains From village shop to customer expectation In the rural Eastern Cape where I grew up, the village shop sold almost anything. My mother would send me there clutching a handwritten shopping list. The shopkeeper would smile, slip me a sweet or two, then unfold the paper. “ Hasn’t come yet.” “We don’t stock it.” “Forgot to order it.” “Maybe next week. “

SUPPLY CHAIN DATA: The data you trust is disabling your growth

Written on 03 June 2026. Posted in Editorial Features.

Original Article: Visit Link

Modern retail systems measure sales, not demand. This is a critical distinction that quietly costs suppliers significant growth. Suppliers routinely base forecasts, production, and investment decisions on sales data as if it accurately reflects true consumer demand. It doesn’t. In FMCG categories, the gap between recorded sales and actual underlying demand can range from 15% to 135% for products with interrupted availability – and can exceed 300% where poor execution has destroyed sales patterns. This ‘invisible demand’ already exists in consumers’ minds but never converts into a sale,...

Cash Handling & Security: Cash & consequences Securing South Africa’s retail front line

Written on 02 June 2026. Posted in Editorial Features.

Original Article: Visit Link

The riskiest moment in a store manager’s week isn’t the Monday cash-up, the Friday rush or even the occasional shoplifter. It’s the few minutes when a staff member walks from the back office to the vault with a bag full of R100 and R200 notes. If that sounds alarmist in today’s supposedly cash-light retail environment, it isn’t. Almost everywhere you look, physical exposure to cash remains one of the most consequential, and yet also most solvable, problems a store can face.

RETAIL AUTOMATION & PAYMENT SOLUTIONS: Beyond the beep

Written on 01 June 2026. Posted in Editorial Features.

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How automation and smarter payments are rewriting retail rules In 1974, a pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum was scanned through a checkout in a supermarket in Troy, Ohio, the first product in the world to pass through a barcode reader. It took a single beep. Nobody in that store could have predicted that this small moment would underpin a future of trillions of rands’ worth of retail transactions across the globe. As Andrew Dremin notes on LinkedIn, that scan didn’t just change how products were identified, it changed how retail thought about technology altogether.

DAIRY: Milk matters

Written on 05 May 2026. Posted in Editorial Features.

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Balancing value & innovation in South Africa’s dairy aisle As South Africa prepares to mark World Milk Day on 1 June, the country’s dairy aisle is reflecting far more than a staple category. Milk has evolved into a dynamic retail space shaped by affordability, nutrition, convenience, innovation and changing consumer lifestyles. Despite ongoing economic pressure, milk remains one of the most resilient products in the FMCG basket. It continues to be a high-frequency purchase consumed across multiple occasions – from breakfast tables and lunchboxes to cooking, baking and on-the-go...

FINANCE, INSURANCE & RELATED TECHNOLOGY

Written on 01 May 2026. Posted in Editorial Features.

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From the ground up How FMCG retailers and wholesalers can build the foundations of their businesses Picture a small independent grocery store in Diepsloot. Until fairly recently, the owner, who has been trading for over a decade, could not access a single rand of formal business credit. He employs eight people and turns over a solid revenue every month but he has no conventional credit score, no fixed property to offer as collateral and no bank manager who knows his name. He is not a bad credit risk; he is simply invisible to the traditional financial system.

ELECTRONIC SHELF LABELS: Electronic shelf labels & automation

Written on 01 May 2026. Posted in Editorial Features.

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Electronic shelf labels & automation There are compelling reasons for uptake and growth in the adoption of Electronic shelf labels (ESL), after the original slow start. ITWeb points out that a few South African retailers ventured into ESL as early as 2006, at a time when the cost was hard to justify. Fast forward to 2026 and it’s clear that ESL is increasingly finding mainstream support among South African retailers.