With the consensus among the stern-jawed men and hard-eyed women of the analyst posse being that The Big Blue has turned a corner but there’s a long way to go yet, Pick n Pay is keeping on keeping on, making some interesting hires and innovating wisely and well. The latest exemplars of this are its new stores in Chatsworth and Little Falls, Roodeport, which find their homes on purpose built “standalone” centres, where Pick n Pay occupies much of the space with its various enterprises (groceries, liquor, clothing, a Thyme restaurant) and a handful of other stores taking up the slack. The non-PnP stores are made up of both “destination” and “convenience” emporia selected by PnP and letting agents Spire Property Management to ensure that the centres offer a one-stop shop. The Little Falls Pick n Pay, by the way, will be further manifestation of the ideas introduced and now tested at the Hurlingham flagship.

Comment: There is something admirable about the coolness Pick n Pay is currently displaying in its fight to get back on top.

Shoprite’s EeziCoupons – those mobile thingamajigs that The Big Red One rolled out without much fanfare last year instead of throwing it all down on a loyalty programme – are nifty little devils. Traditional paper coupons, you see, have fallen from grace with the brands, who dislike having to fork out for concept, design and printing if they can help it, and with punters, who in this age of convenience aren’t keen on countless bits of paper in their wallet to be redeemed one at a tedious time. Enter EeziCoupon, where punters view all available coupons on their phone, pick up the corresponding product on the shelf, purchase those products and redeem them by keying in their single wiCode at the tillpoint pin pad.

Comment: When it comes to mobile, we’re approaching a kind of singularity, where the phone becomes a broadsheet, wallet and research survey all in one. 2013 is going to be big.

Boxer, who have not often graced these columns in the past, are having something of a run of it these days, in part because the business itself is going such great guns. Last week some of our staff attended the launch of their EasyCover Funeral Plan, a JV with Nedbank and a typically Boxer initiative, which allows punters to insure up to 15 family members, with payments ranging from R14.90 to R82 per month. Nedbank, you will be interested and probably surprised to learn, now strategically views Boxer as its best channel into the mass market and this venture cements its tradition as the first bank to go seriously into the retail sector, again with preferred partner Pick n Pay. After the launch, our bright-eyed young cub reporters visited the venerable Mpumalanga suburb Boxer in KZN, now undergoing a revamp, and not before time, with both Pick n Pay and SPAR setting up shop, as it were, in the hood.

Comment: Simple, innovative, relevant. Vintage Boxer.

Le Grand Bleu, who as you will recall, has under its sustainable living plan stated its desire to double revenue while reducing the carbon footprint, is increasing its geophysical (ahem) footprint down here in Mzansi, having turned the sod, if that’s what you do, on an R800million factory in Anderbolt, Boksburg, next door to the main DC. The plant should start running product off the lines by 2014 and will be producing such household stalwarts as Omo, Skip, Handy Andy, Domestos, Comfort and Sunlight. The plant will be a humdinger, deploying the latest technology and ideas to create a low energy, environmentally efficient factory that sends zero waste to landfill. And that’s not all – another 200bar is going on upgrading existing plants, for a total, sing it, of one cool billion.

Comment: Another vote of confidence in our country and our economy, at a time when every bit helps.

The Gauteng Liquor Act is about to come into effect, gang, so get your skates on if you wish to object to anything therein. Among the stiffer clauses are the following: No sale of liquor on Sundays (either on or off consumption); more complicated plans and municipal requirements, which make a new application more expensive and delayed; stricter notice requirements (some impractical); higher fees in almost all cases; new trading hours and stricter motivation in applications, which will now have to include proposals for public interest / impact / competence / social responsibility programmes.

Comment: We have often wondered, with every liquor business now required to encourage responsible drinking, what irreplaceable percentage of the old bottom line comes from irresponsible drinking.

Sorry to get all apocalypto on you, but there is a credit crunch a’comin’, if our friends over at the African Bank are to be believed, and who doesn’t believe a banker? Hmmm, yes, we see what you mean. Be that as it may, here it is in a nutshell: growth in unsecured lending has been running at a steamy 40% per annum, which has caused a pullback by major credit providers of late. However, due to a reporting lag by the credit bureaux (ahem), and the fact that punters are rolling credit over, using a new loan to pay off the last one, no one realises quite how high the steaming pile of debt has got, yet. This means that African Bank itself is going to pull back the growth of its books from a high of 40% in 2011 to around 23%, and is expecting bad debt to increase by about 1% from 10.8% last year. And if previous debt cycles are anything to go by, it is anticipated that bad debt could increase by anything from 20-25%. 

Comment: Which means that punters will be less likely to throw bad money after good groceries. Is anyone else feeling a little chilly?

Unilever has just divested itself of the beloved Skippy brand of peanut butter to Hormel foods for $700million, in every geography except China, whose competition authorities are still deliberating in their Confucian way. The deal encompasses the Skippy trademark and two manufacturing plants based in the United States and, um, China. Hormel brings a classically American product mix to market, including hams, bacon, sausages and microwaveable entrees and salsas.

Woolworths Mauritius, has just entered into a JV with Deacons Kenya Limited to open a Woolworths clothing chain on the mainland, in which Woolies Mauritius will own 51%. Which all seems to be a bit of an arm’s length way to do things, really. Curious. But a very tastefully-sleeved arm, obviously.

In the US of A, where they have just celebrated their incomprehensible yet oddly invigorating Feast of the Superbowl, Annheuser Busch InBev (ABI), the world’s largest brewer, is encountering headwinds from the Justice Department, who seem inclined to block its $20billion acquisition of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo, which makes Corona. Should the deal go through, ABI will control 46% of the $80billion per annum market, too rich a mix for the DOJ’s blood.