How are South Africa’s ailing punters getting their pharmaceuticals these days? Clicks, of course has a free Repeat Prescription Service, allowing customers to get their medication delivered to their door, or receive notifications via SMS and priority queuing in store should they feel well enough. It also offers free chronic medication delivery via its courier service, Clicks Direct Medicine, and with the Clicks app scripts may be submitted on the go, and script history and remaining repeats checked. And all privileges apply to OTC shoppers too. As if this wasn’t enough, they’re introducing a collection service where shoppers can collect their medication in a locker at selected stores. Similarly via Dis-Chem’s app, customers can also order their repeat meds and opt for home delivery or store pick up via its PackMyMeds service, as well as submit scripts. And now, a new app, PharmaGo, is targeting smaller pharmacies, helping to get their meds off the shelves and into the hands that need them, sometimes quite urgently. While not intended for widespread use by its developers, the service has proved popular, and growth is on the cards.

Comment: How do you, the supplier, take advantage of this expanding route to market? We merely ask the questions.

A slow news week, seriously, so we’re going to content ourselves with comings and goings in the industry more generally. First up, Shoprite, which opened not one but four new stores last week, in areas not previously served by The Big Red One: A Shoprite in the Rustenburg Mall and one in the Ekhaya Mall in Secunda, and a brace of Checkerses, with one also in Rustenberg Mall. SPAR in the meantime, have a brand-new appointee to the board, Jane Anne Canny, who has a background in financial accounting and governance inter alia, and takes up her position as an independent non-executive director and member of the risk committee and social and ethics committee. And finally, Woolies, who down under have appointed Raju Vuppalapati as CEO of Country Road. Significantly, Vuppalapati joins the business from RM Williams in Aus and, prior to that, Levi Strauss, where he worked under Woolies CEO Roy Bagattini as Regional Managing Director for the Australian, New Zealand, African, and Middle East markets.

Comment: Woolies is working hard to get its clothing offering right, as this new appointment shows.

So this wellness thing: does it have legs? Let’s ask Amazon, who know a thing or two about what people want. Amazon recently launched Aplenty, a private grocery brand bringing to market snacks, confectionery and condiments with a ‘better-for-you’ focus. Amazon plans to roll out “hundreds more” products over the next year – a clear response to the increased relevance of wellness products for consumers. They’re also taking an omnichannel approach to the trend: Amazon Fresh has recently opened its first UK store, after opening 12 in the US, offering a mix of national, local and private brands, including Amazon’s “Fresh” (fresh food), and “365 by Whole Foods Market” range of organic groceries. Following Amazon’s expansion into physical stores, South African e-tailer Faithful to Nature is opening a Cape Town Waterfront store opening in April 2021, offering consumers the opportunity to shop a broad range of eco-friendly and ethical products across food, health, home, body and beauty.

Comment: So wellness is becoming a game-changer for retailers and suppliers alike – and it would be remiss of you not to get on board. For a comprehensive view of the role wellness is playing in the categories of health and beauty, have a look our new report here, developed by our lead analyst on the project, Andrea du Plessis.

In Australia, German discounter Aldi has announced that it is aiming to send zero waste to landfill by 2025, starting with food waste, which it aims to eliminate by 2023 by segregated waste collection in stores, doubling food donations, and identifying more opportunities for recycling within the organisation and across the supply chain. Back in Blighty, Aldi rival Lidl is changing the loyalty landscape by introducing a “best time to shop” feature on its app, with quiet times shown in green and busier times in blue. A smart move, and easy to execute one assumes, providing convenience for the punter and a smoothing of demand for the retailer. Also in Merrye Englande, Tesco is offering preferential financing rates for suppliers that prioritise decarbonisation, in a new voluntary programme driven by Anthesis, KPMG and Santander, who will help them measure and meet their emissions targets.

Comment: Responsible retailing is no longer the stuff you pad out the annual report with when there’s no dividend this year. Businesses have realised that it’s the path to increased sales, reduced costs and a healthier bottom line too.

Kantar, one of the world’s leading evidence-based insights and consulting company, has launched a new consumer panel in South Africa. Built upon digital data capture capabilities, the panel enables businesses to measure their competitive performance and find new growth opportunities. It will explore the shopping habits of 6,500 South African households, the largest sample in the region, and the digital capture methodology enables each panellist to provide continuous information about all their grocery purchases via barcode collection and in-the-moment trip records, via their phone. Inter alia, the tool will provide analysis by product, channel and retailer, and reporting and segmenting by SKU.

Comment: The more extensive and granular the information about how people shop in these fluid and dynamic times, the better, if you ask us. And on that note and more, look out for the Ti Shopper Marketing at Retail report coming soon.

A while back, Food Lover’s market ran a competition called the Seeds of Change Supplier Development Partnership to upskill finalists and award a contract to the winner, which has now been announced. The Village Market Africa (TVMA), a social enterprise established out of a need to address decreasing bee populations, emerged from a field of 840-odd contestants to claim the top spot and win a contract to supply honey to the growing grocery chain. TVMA works with ERP.ngo – an organisation that, among other initiatives, uses bees as a deterrent to elephants from raiding crops – to set up bee sanctuaries in remote rural communities across Southern Africa to protect bees, improve livelihoods, mitigate human/wildlife conflict and help farmers with crop pollination – improving their crops and yields. Says TVMA co-founder, Mmabatho Portia Morudi, “For us it means we get to drive even more impact in the remotest of villages by simply complementing their knowledge and skill.”

Comment: A wonderful conclusion to a great initiative. Across the Beloved Country, and the world, businesses and communities are finding each other in a movement whose scale we haven’t yet begun to grasp.

Six out of ten households say their income has been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to TransUnion South Africa. That’s not as bad as it might be: in November the number was closer to 82%, suggesting wellsprings of resilience in the spending power of our citizenry post the second wave of COVID this February just gone. However, they have made changes to their budgets, with 74% cutting back on discretionary spending; 42% cancelling subscriptions or memberships, and 38% cancelling or reducing digital services. 46% anticipate reduced online or in-store purchases in categories like clothing, electronics and durable goods over the next three months. Economists, in the meantime, are raising their predictions for GDP growth from 3.1% to 3.8% for 2021, reflecting the faster-than-expected recovery at the tail end of last year. And somehow, the dear old ZAR has become a safe haven for global investors and continues strong against the dollar.

Comment: Economies, like super tankers, are not easily turned. And it helps to have some diesel in the tank, and a steady hand on the wheel. Here’s hoping.