A trading update from Clicks, for the 20 weeks through mid-Jan, and while we hesitate to use the words “disappointing” and “Clicks” in the same sentence, the punters are not all that excited. Despite turnover growing +8.1% to R18.2bn, and retail sales (which include Clicks, the Body Shop, and Sorbet corporate stores) increasing +8.7%, the Group’s share price declined more than 4% on the news that like-store sales slowed to +5.9% on volume growth of 2.4%. One factor weighing on performance was a delay in the issuing of pharmacy licences to Clicks while it awaited the sale of the Unicorn Pharmaceuticals unit. Unflappable CEO Bertina Engelbrecht noted that the underlying growth was “driven by strong front shop health and pharmacy, higher sales of private label products and increased promotional sales, which were supported by a record Black Friday”, and that this has led to Q1 market share gains across all Clicks’ product categories. The business did report that non-promotional sales growth had slowed, as had the performance of Christmas gifting, paperware, and home and electrical products.

Comment: Into each life a little rain must fall, as the man said. And once those licences have come through, great guns.

Another trading update, this time from Woolies, pertinent to the 26 weeks through to 29 December 2024. Here in the Beloved Country, sales grew +9.1%, with Food up a “market-leading” (their words) +11.4%, driven, they say, by positive underlying volume growth from improved availability, ongoing innovation, and an enhanced value proposition. Not to mention this TikTok from a lovely Irish superfan. They also gave a shout out to a bump in consumer sentiment, supported by moderating inflation, interest rates easing, and the (spookily) prolonged suspension of load shedding. Beauty shot the lights out, delivering growth of +17.3%, although the Fashion, Beauty and Home (FBH) segment absolutely crawled overall at +2.5%. And speaking of the crawl, howa theengs dahnundah? you ask, tossing another shreemp on the bahbie. Again, not so grand, declining -6.2% in the face of high interest rates and elevated living costs. On the back of these constraints, the business expects a decline in HEPS of somewhere between 22 and 27%.

Comment: Apparel is an increasing drag on the excellent Food business. One wonders whether some species of unbundling might not be in order?

Last week we broke the news that Fourways Mall is in the midst of a glow-up, as our 14-year-old daughter would say. This week, we bring you word from Soshanguve Mall, currently under development on the site of the old Soshanguve Plaza. Sonshanguve township is home to over 900,000 people, and is a major contributor to the Tshwane region’s 26.8% contribution of Gauteng’s GDP. “We recognised the economic potential of Soshanguve as far back as 2012,” says Andre von Bulow, Managing Director of investment outfit Cubisol. “Since then, we have been working closely with stakeholders to bring our vision of a world-class retail development, built with an ethos of community inclusion, to life.” In other retail property news, Vukile Property Fund reports solid growth over the festive season. The local assets achieved a strong +6.1% growth in trading density in November and December, with township centres up +9.6%, rural centres up +5.9% and properties +4.6%. The big turnover growth categories were Unisex Wear, up +7.7%, Groceries at +7.2%, Fast Food at +6.3% and Home Furnishing +6%. Footfall was up +5% in November, arguing for the continued strength of the manufactured phenomenon that is Black Friday.

Comment: Bullish times, it seems, among the sharp-eyed owners of the spaces where our great industry does business.

In the US, the animus of the current regime against initiatives aimed at ending economic discrimination has been adopted with enthusiasm by a growing number of businesses, including several in our own great sector – Walmart, Amazon, and now Target, for starters. Target, a discount department store with no real SA equivalent, is ending its Racial Equity Action and Change initiatives this year, under which it had pledged to invest more than $2bn with black-owned businesses by the end of 2025. The initiative had planned to add more than 500 black-owned suppliers to the books this year, and to increase exposure of diverse-owned brands through in-store media. There is some pushback: Target has built a reputation for inclusion, and some pundits believe the retreat from DEI could hurt the brand. “Target is making a mistake by ending its DEI goals with its customer base being highly diverse,” says Texas congressman Sylvester Turner.

Comment: In the case of Walmart, there are surely questions around whether this abrupt course change applies in other geographies where the business operates.

L’Oréal South Africa has appointed Natasha Lopes as the general manager for the Consumer Products Division (CPD) in Southern Africa, and this seems as good a time as any to check in with that iconic business. Lopes previously headed up the L’Oréal Dermatological Beauty (LDB) Division, which under her leadership grew from eighth place in the dermocosmetics market in 2020 to a dominant leadership position in 2024 with a 31.5% market share. “The growth we’ve achieved reflects our commitment to meeting consumer needs with science-backed, dermatologist-recommended products,” says Lopes. The CPD brings to market such brands as L’Oréal Paris, Garnier, Maybelline New York, and Dark & Lovely. Dermocosmetics – perhaps the fastest-growing category in the beauty segment – are skincare products that combine cosmetic and pharmaceutical properties to treat skin issues, and even mild skin conditions.

Comment: A growing category, and this before we’ve even factored the burgeoning buying potential of a skincare-obsessed Gen Z…

Congrats to Castle Lager and the venerable Kitchener’s Carvery Bar in Braamfontein, a partnership forged under the aegis of the Play Braamfontein initiative. Last Thursday the pair celebrated the relaunch of Johannesburg’s second-oldest bar and the repackaging of Castle Lager in a gold can, which gives a comforting nod to the brew on which the older drinkers among us were weaned, as it were. Sticking with beverages and partnerships, Coca-Cola and the South African Rugby Union have reunited in a four-year sponsorship deal that includes the Springboks, the Springbok Women, and Springbok Sevens men and women as well as the Junior Springbok teams. “We are proud to support Saru in their mission to ensure sustainable and inclusive growth of the sport by returning with a robust partnership designed to drive impact and support the growth of the sport across all levels,” says Coke’s vice president of franchise operations Sergio Vieira. Moving abroad, a partnership which has proven rocky – Ben and Jerry’s, acquired by Unilever in 2000, are once again in a public spat with the FMCG giant, this time in a censorship lawsuit in which the ice-cream maker accuses the parent company of suppressing a social policy statement that mentions Donald Trump.

Comment: Corporate America is treading a very tricky path these days.

A couple of big numbers have come in this week. First up, inflation, as measured by the CPI, for the month of December, when it edged up a touch to +3% YoY, from +2.9% in October. The main contributors were housing and utilities, and miscellaneous goods and services. News also of the annual rate, which at +4.4% for 2024 was significantly down from 2023’s +6%. Also of note is a reshuffle of the basket by which CPI is reached: in are such items as basmati rice, meat bones, meat patties, chicken nuggets and ready-made meals; out are ready-mix flour, flavoured milk, frozen potato chips and ground coffee or coffee beans. Also out: snackwich machines and shoe polish, replaced in the case of the former by airfryers. This also from StatsSA: retail trade sales increased by +7.7% YoY in November 2024, with general dealers storming in at +11.9%, and our own great industry, denoted as “Food, beverages and tobacco in specialised stores” coming in at a more muted +3.8%.

Comment: The airfryer is staging a quiet revolution in our kitchens. Which brands are developing specialised products in response?