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How the heck do you sell CDs in these days of iPods, instant downloads and Somali-scale music piracy? This appears to be the question Clicks is asking itself – in the year to August, Musica grew turnover a negligible 0.5%, compared with Clicks (16.7%) and UPD (5.2%). Now Mr Kneale reckons that the business is a good generator of the ready stuff, with sizeable market share, which is exactly what we would say if we were looking to flog it, which is what Clicks will do if the appropriately flush buyer were to manifest itself, CD sales not being core to the group’s burgeoning positioning in retail pharmacy. (make sentence shorter – Ed) Overall, Clicks is a currently phenomenal business which has managed to grow operating margin from 5.8% to 6.2% in a difficult time – which calls further into question the role of an underperforming, non-pharmacy asset in the mix.

Comment: Clicks has never been afraid of disposing of non-core assets. But things will get really interesting when they start making a few more core acquisitions...

Pick n Pay has just announced a rather dramatic restructuring at the top of the business, viz that the current Exco, Retail Management Board and Group Enterprises Board are to be replaced by a Group Executive consisting of accountabilities in Marketing and Sustainability, Buying, Operations, Supply Chain/IS, Franchise, Group Enterprises, Finance, HR, Transformation and Customer. The changes, according to Ol’ Blue, are necessary in order to streamline the company’s operations with a very firm focus on customer sovereignty, efficiency and area specialisation, and, presumably, to accommodate the changes to the rest of the business which the past three years have wrought: the disbanding of Score, the rise of franchise, the retirement of Chairman Ackerman the Elder, the coming of central distribution, and the forthcoming departure from Aus.

Comment: Epochal stuff over at SA’s biggest retailer. Click here for more detail.

Some months ago, we reported that Country Road, Woolies’ posh Aussie clothing outfit, had parted company with its recently-appointed CEO, John Cheston, over irreconcilable differences in the strategic direction of the business. Cheston has come back blazing, with some pretty wild allegations, viz that Country Road overstated its cash position before he joined, that outgoing CEO Ian Moir pocketed a handsome but unagreed and results-wise unearned bonus on his departure, and that Country Road’s company secretary had been instructed to repatriate funds from SA to Aus for the benefit of Mr Susman himself. According to Susman, these funds were purely for his travelling purposes, although the procedure followed may not have been correct. As to the rest, says Woolies, see you in court.

Comment: Ugly stuff, although the swift sacking of Mr Cheston suggests to some analysts that the Dapper One is refreshingly, shall we say, single-minded when it comes to threats to its strategic direction.

Sales of that landfill standard, disposable nappies, have doubled in the past five years, and while strapped mums and deadbeat dads have traded down over the downturn, things are looking up, according to P&G who bring to market the 3am lifesaver, Pampers. According to market-share and VAT specialists Nielsen, the local disposable nappy market is worth R2.4 billion, with over a billion of the puffy pocket-emptiers sold annually, compared with a scant 480million in 2005. While Pampers currently leads the market on a 12-month moving average, Kimberley-Clark’s rival brand Huggies is closing the gap, achieving 41.8% volume share in September compared with Pampers’ 36.9%.

Comment: When it comes to nappies, change is inevitable.

Unilever’s Surf brand has picked up a nomination for a global Mobile Marketing Award, using a combination of the old – television’s tried and tested Pick a Box format – and the new – entry as a contestant over mobile. The participant could send a free Please Call Me, which triggered off an Automated Voice Message call back to ask the participant questions to pre-qualify them as a Surf customer and prospective contestant. The campaign was a howling success, with entry volumes averaging at 8,300 per day and peaking at over 12,000 daily entries for the two-month duration, and providing the added benefit of a handsome database which will be used to target respondents in the future with relevant information and competitions or promotions.

Comment: Mobile is truly coming into its own, particularly in South Africa, where mobile operators literally grow on large and suspiciously symmetrical trees.

This week we join sports writers, economists and astrologers in reserving the right to conveniently forget what we said last week. So, hold the phones, turns out Xmas is going to be merry after all, and that stories of all those retailers shaking out their pockets for loose coins to buy a musty orange and a tin soldier for the little ones were hogwash. Xmas, we are now confidently informed, is going to be huge, to the tune of 9-odd% in the black, growth wise YOY. Low interest rates, low food inflation, a new resurgence in the confidence of the posher punter, etc, etc. “If you have the ability to spend, then you will spend,” remarks one more than usually perspicacious analyst.

Comment: Or you could just wait and see, then say with the faintest curl of a sphinx-like smile, “I told you so.” Nobody will remember.

The rustically-named Brambles Limited, parent company of leading pooling services provider CHEP, has announced a proposed acquisition of IFCO Systems NV, a leader in the reusable plastic container (RPC) industry worldwide. IFCO presents Brambles with the opportunity for Brambles to enhance its pooling solutions offering to customers worldwide with a substantial acquisition in two of its key business areas, RPCs and pallets.

Imperial Logistics has acquired a majority shareholding in break bulk consolidation expert and domestic and international document courier, EWC Express, strengthening the Group’s small parcel, high speed delivery retail offering. EWC services over 3,000 centres across South Africa, daily and has global representation through its affiliation with the World Freight Network, and also offers air freight, sea freight, customs clearing and freight forwarding, as well as warehousing and distribution services.