Signalling its arrival in the heavyweight division and bulking up ahead of its listing on the JSE, Boxer Superstores has launched its very own loyalty programme, Boxer Rewards Club. The club promises exclusive benefits and rewards to cardholders, and like the Pick n Pay Smart Shopper programme, gives shoppers points for every rand they spend at Boxer stores nationwide. Specifically, when punters use their Boxer Rewards Club card, they automatically start earning B Rewards on advertised products. Every B Reward is worth R1 and is stored in the Boxer App, to be spent at the shopper’s discretion. Next steps? “Boxer has been growing its footprint for a number of years, expanding from our traditional heartland KZN and the Eastern Cape growing into Mpumalanga and the northern provinces,” says Managing Executive Marek Masojada. “Our plan is to continue that growth also through the conversion of certain Pick n Pay stores. Our aim is to take our Boxer brand and our unique offerings to more communities, and towns and cities of South Africa.”

Comment: A smart move, and timely. South African shoppers are now thoroughly accustomed to loyalty, which is standard across all major retailers.

Word from our colleagues at Nielsen IQ is that South Africa’s embattled shoppers are enjoying this period of blessed relief from the travails of load shedding but are continuing to struggle in the face of persistently high prices. That’s it in a nutshell. Digging in, the NIQ Retail Spend Barometer reveals that despite these difficulties, people spent R181bn on groceries in the second quarter, or +4.8% more than they did in the same period last year. The Barometer tracks food, perishables, home and personal care categories in the FMCG sector, as well as tech, white goods and DIY. Frozen food was a big winner at +9%, as was fresh (+8.2%) as people regained confidence in the power supply to their fridges and freezers. “Across, the board, we saw consumers hunt for bargains and switch brands and stores to save money,” says NIQ Retail Lead for sub-Saharan Africa Nikki Quinn, who has pretty much the exact same initials as the business itself.

Comment: The impact of load shedding on these categories has been enormous. A correction is welcome; long may it last.

Excellent work from Shoprite, which has packaged its Shoprite-brand bleach range in 100% recycled HDPE plastic – in a tasteful off-white not usually associated with the category. Bleach is generally sold in pure white, first-use plastic. The Shoprite initiative – conducted in partnership with plastic manufacturer Extrupet and Bowler Packaging – will remove over six million plastic bottles from landfills every year. Also plastic, also from Shoprite: Checkers Little Shop is back by popular demand, with the largest ever collection of 44 miniatures made from 100% recycled plastic, and featuring fun new features, such as scratch and sniff, glow-in-the-dark and sparkle. Moving on, much has been made of late about the remuneration of retail CEOs in comparison to their lowest-paid staff. At both Woolies and Shoprite, for example, the average floor worker would have to work for roughly three years to make what Roy Bagattini and Pieter Engelbrecht, respectively, make in a day. Another key piece of data is how those floor workers are paid: at Woolies they earn 57% higher than the sectoral determined annual minimum wage, and at Shoprite 10% more.

Comment: Some more of those revealing numbers in this excellent report.

A quick squizz at how Walmart and Amazon are weaponising artificial intelligence in their race to become the Biggest Thing in the World, Ever™. For Walmart – still tied as it is to the inconvenience of physical stores, it skews to the customer experience. So, The Big Fella is focusing its efforts on augmented reality to assist with such attractions as virtual try-ons, and AI-enhanced store management, using techniques like in-store product recognition to keep the shelves stocked. It’s also experimenting with such dystopian technologies as automated store surveillance. Amazon, for its part, is using AI in customer personalisation and autonomous systems that improve network efficiency and data management. Both, however, are taking things very seriously and investing heavily: Walmart has taken out 3,000 AI-related patents in recent years; Amazon, ahead of the game as it tends to be in these things, has taken out 9,000. “As these two giants continue to push the boundaries of retail AI, the broader industry can expect ripple effects in supply chain innovation, customer loyalty programmes, and operational scalability,” says Kiran Raj, head of Disruptive Tech at GlobalData.

Comment: Not to mention absolutely monstrous energy bills: AI is notoriously power-hungry, in more ways than one.

What’s up with snacking? you ask, and Mondelez, having some interest in the subject, are here to tell you. Consumers across sub-Saharan Africa, they say, are more discerning, more conscious and more open to trying new things when it comes to the snacking choices they make. Connected to the world by social media, they are increasingly open to flavours from around the world, particularly the East, with foods migrating from speciality stores or delis onto the shelves of modern retail. But at the same time, consumers are reconnecting with African foods and the ancient wisdom they represent. Similarly, snacks must walk a fine line between impulsively consumed comfort food and a simple, wholesome embodiment of the mindfulness movement – with visible grains, real fruit juices, and functional additives like collagen. One thing is certain: as the consumer market here grows and matures, Africa is the next snacking frontier. “In the next 20, a lot of global GDP growth will come from Africa,” says, Senior Marketing Director, SSA, Arpan Sur. “Young consumers are trying more things and snacking more, urbanisation is on the rise and digital channels are playing a more important role than ever before.”

Comment: A fascinating and growing category, with, as it turns out, a lot going for it on this great continent we call home.

A couple of interesting marketing initiatives in this, let’s face it, justifiably slow news week. First up, the RCL FOODS Young Chef & Baker Champions, which after a thrilling few rounds moves into the finals, to be held on the 3rd of October. Teams of two from various culinary schools compete for prizes to the value of R70,000, in fulfilment of the contest’s philosophy: to grow what matters by investing in young talent and fostering creativity, innovation, and excellence in the South African culinary industry. Moving on, Nestlé Bar One’s The Next One campaign offers 25 wannabe entrepreneurs R25,000 in cash to start a business – in acknowledgement that South Africa’s young people are both chronically underemployed and super-motivated. All they have to do is buy two Bar Ones to prove it. Finally, time to address the elephant in the room, or in this case the rat in the loaf of bread (we did say it was a slow news week). For those just back from a solo hike through the Gobi Desert, a rat has been found in a loaf of Sasko Bread. To which we say: fine. There’s 8 billion of us. It takes a lot of work to feed us all. Sometimes, rats, which are notoriously hungry and also famously stealthy, will find their way unobserved into our food.

Comment: Now back to work everyone.

Retail trade sales have sidled in for the month of July, and well might they look shifty. Coming in with a shamefully modest increase of +2% YoY after climbing 4.1% YoY in June, they hardly represented a flowering of the GNU economy. There were some bright spots, however, our own great industry was not one, represented as Food, Beverages and Tobacco in Specialised stores, and growing only 2.8%. General dealers, at 4.4%, were the winning sector, but again, see June. The pharmacy industry did OK though, with an increase of +3.3%. On the upside, business confidence among retailers, as measured by the BER, increased +6 percentage points, as a result, says BER senior economist Helanya Fourie, of “consumers’ real disposable income boosted by inflation at a three-year low… the absence of load shedding, the market-friendly election outcome [boosting sentiment], and expectations of an interest rate cutting cycle.”

Comment: It’s not spectacular, but we’ll build on it.