Pet parents across the Beloved Country will be pleased to learn that Petshop Science has partnered with Sixty60, bringing on-demand delivery of specialised pet food, treats, toys and vet-approved local and international brands to their doors within the hour. Customers will have access to 3,500 products across 80+ trusted brands on the Sixty60 app or e-commerce site, and orders will be fulfilled directly from their closest Petshop Science store. Petshop Science was launched back in the ‘21 and has grown quickly to 143 stores across eight provinces. For now, the service is available in select areas in Cape Town, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape. But, says Checkers, it will be rolled out to the rest of the country by the end of Jul 2025. Have a look at their clever launch ad here. In other happy news for the teal one, the three-year trademark dispute between Checkers’ Forest and Feast and Pick n Pay’s Crafted Collection private label ranges has finally come to an end, with Pick n Pay withdrawing its appeal just before it was scheduled to be heard at the Supreme Court in May. Shoprite is, of course, satisfied with the outcome and how the decision will safeguard the integrity of its premium brand. According to Shoprite’s 2024 integrated annual report, shoppers of the Forage and Feast range spend three-and-a-half times more per shopping basket than the average Checkers shopper.

Comment: Back to Petshop Science and Sixty60, as one of our retail experts wisely commented, these days the retail landscape can quite literally change at the click of a button. This industry sure does keep us on our toes, or paws, in this case.

Black Friday has come really, REALLY early at Boxer, with the retailer launching its “The Home of Black Friday Deals” campaign for 10 days in June. The campaign runs across Boxer’s supers, Liquors and Build formats, with shoppers enjoying low prices on a wide range of goods, from baked beans and whisky to two-burner gas stoves. “WHY WAIT! SHOP NOW!” SHOUTS BOXER IN BIG BOLD LETTERS. Next up, we’re not entirely sure how significant this is, but if nothing else, it raised our eyebrows. Just eight months ago, Woolworths CEO Roy Bagattini sold almost 400,000 Woolies shares in a transaction valued at about R26m, citing personal investment management as the reason. Then last week, over three consecutive days, he again sold a total of 700,000 shares worth around R38.5m, also “to effect portfolio rebalancing”. This is not necessarily a sign of anything negative going on at Woolies, but we thought we’d put it here… use it, lose it. And finally, not great news for South Africa’s biggest shopping mall, Fourways, whose 50% owner, Azrapart, was placed under business rescue by the Free State High Court earlier this month, following an application by its creditors RMB and Investec. Azrapart has failed to repay debts to the tune of R2.3bn and while it is appealing the court order, Fourway’s other co-owner, Accelerate Property Fund, is not having the best time of it either, having undertaken two rights issues in the last year and selling around R1.2bn worth of properties to raise cash.

Congratulations to Ken Murphy and Ramon Laguarta, CEOs of Tesco and PepsiCo, respectively, who have been appointed as co-chairs of the Consumer Goods Forum for the next two years. The global forum, which our own local CGCSA aligns with, adopting its frameworks where appropriate, represents 400 members in 70 countries and works to drive positive change and efficiency in the consumer goods industry. Staying with Tesco, the retailer has teamed up with sustainable farming pioneer, Wildfarmed, to stock its bread made from regeneratively farmed wheat. Tesco shoppers can now choose between white rolls, sliced seeded bread, and plain / bread flour in store, thereby supporting farming that is not just sustainable, but benefits the land too. Moving on, from 1 June it has become illegal for businesses in the UK to sell single-use vapes, this in an attempt to reduce their environmental impact and also make it trickier for children and youngsters to sneak a quick puff before throwing the evidence in the bin. Good intentions for sure, but not great outcomes for convenience stores, which initial data indicates lost out on £5m in sales during the first week of the ban. Retailers caught breaking the law face a minimum £200 fine, with a prison sentence of up to two years for repeat offences.

Big news from personal care, tissue and hygiene products giant, Kimberly-Clark, who will be entering a $3.4bn JV with Brazil’s (and indeed the world’s) largest pulp producer, Suzano. The venture, which will produce and market consumer and professional tissue products in over 70 countries, will include 22 manufacturing facilities around the world with a combined production capacity of 1 million tons of tissue each year. Suzano will hold 51% of the new entity, with the option to buy the remaining 49% from Kimberly-Clark in future. “Both companies share strong organizational cultures rooted in innovation and sustainability,” said Suzano CEO Beto Abreu. “We look forward to combining great talent, good assets, and tremendous brands that are trusted by consumers.”

After last week’s results synopsis, this week we unpack Premier’s strategy regarding the world’s most widely consumed staple, rice. Indeed, over the last financial year, the company has been investing in rice, acquiring a 30% shareholding in Goldkeys, a KZN-based rice distributor which is one of the largest importers in the country, and a 13.1% shareholding in ZEN Commodities, a Dubai-based trading business that procures rice from Thailand (and elsewhere) for rice packers in Southern Africa. These investments are aligned with Premier’s strategy to grow its product portfolio, creating a “product offering [that] is more closely aligned with customer needs,” according to the Group.
Next, in its 2024 global social impact report issued last week, PepsiCo announced that it plans to invest $30m in agriculture and food security initiatives by 2030. According to the report, it delivered 8.8 million meals and provided 220,000 individuals with access to nutritious meals throughout 2024, and in particular, PepsiCo South Africa was mentioned for its Schools Breakfast Nutrition Program, which provides a nutritious breakfast to over 34,000 underprivileged primary school children every school day.
Onto a commodity of a different kind, Carlsberg has introduced Grobund, its first beer brewed entirely with regeneratively grown barley malt. In the case of Carlsberg, this means crop rotation, continuous plant cover, and minimal tillage to actively improve the health of the soil and the surrounding ecosystem. “We are already testing the barley malt in the regular Carlsberg pilsner,” says Peter Haahr Nielsen, managing director at Carlsberg Denmark. “The goal is that by 2040, we will brew exclusively with regenerative grain across the entire Carlsberg group.”

New inflation and retail sales data released by Stats SA yesterday have revealed that inflation remains contained, reported at +2.8% for May 2025. This is the third month in a row that total inflation has been below the lower end of the 3-6% target range, driving discussions to revise the target. The SARB and National Treasury have been engaging on this for years, as the current target range is generally considered too wide, and the +4.5% baseline midpoint target is considered too high. Fuel deflation is a key driver behind the current low inflation, so the recent jump in international oil prices, following escalating conflict between Israel and Iran since Friday, has raised uncertainty about the outlook.
Retail sales for April reported +5.1% real growth year-on-year (adjusted to exclude inflation). This follows March’s +1.2% growth. Adding the two months together (to account for the timing of Easter), growth was +3.1%, with positive, though subdued, growth at +2.4% from general dealers (selling predominantly food), +8.1% from retailers in textiles and clothing and +7.0% from retailers in household goods. Food specialists were flat on last year.

Comment: As conflict escalates, the humanitarian cost must remain front of mind. But global instability also carries quieter, indirect consequences. For the past ten months (up to June), South Africans have benefited from lower fuel prices, easing inflationary pressure. A surge now would undercut that fragile relief, reminding us how interconnected global events truly are.