More proof, if any were needed, that Shoprite regard home delivery as more than a flash in the pan: the Big Red One announced this week that it would be entering into a JV with long time logistics providers RTT Group to protect the learnings, technology and intellectual property created by its Sixty60 on-demand delivery service, while facilitating future innovation and development of the Group’s last mile logistics. Sixty60, like other home delivery services, has been something of a victim of its own success, with the business scrabbling to meet demand. Other businesses have rushed to make acquisitions to boost their delivery capacity – Massmart, which bought a controlling stake in OneCart in October, is a case in point. “This RTT on-demand joint venture will allow the group the opportunity to continue enhancing our order fulfilment and last-mile delivery capabilities,” says CEO Pieter Engelbrecht.

Comment: A shrewd move by Shoprite, keeping its friends close while not having to buy them outright.

Big news for Clicks this week as the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld, with costs, an appeal against a decision of the Western Cape High Court that the retailer had contravened the Pharmacy Act by owning a drug-making facility, viz Unicorn Manufacturing. Ruling against Clicks last year in its battle with the Independent Community Pharmacy Association, a judge at the court averred that “an entity having interests in both types of pharmacies would gain financially if the manufacturing pharmacy’s products are promoted by the pharmacists in the community pharmacies over others.” This he said could prejudice consumers against receiving the best quality of product at the best prices, and in products not strictly needed being recommended and sold to the public. The Appeals Court found that the structure of the Clicks Group represented separate and different juristic persons with Unicorn firewalled away under the New Clicks subsidiary.

Comment: The separation of church and state, as it were, remains to us a sound guiding principal.

A sigh of relief for Massmart as Saccawu agree to a R400 increase for its members in the Builders division, and Game undertake to reinstate retrenched workers into vacant positions where possible. Massmart had filled positions with contract workers for the duration of the strike. Staying with Massmart, Standard Bank UCount Rewards members can now earn and redeem rewards points nationwide at their nearest Game store, in a nod towards loyalty. And staying with financial services, Tymebank, whose partnership with Pick n Pay and Boxer has bolstered its growth prospects, has received a whack of cash from Chinese tech giant Tencent in its latest funding round. Most of the $70 million raised in this round will be used to fund growth here in the Beloved Country. Unrelated, Dis-Chem have joined the growing number of South African businesses to adopt a policy of mandatory vaccination requirements for staff members, to be enforced from 1 February 2022.

Comment: Over to you, Dis-Chem: “With the onset of the new Omicron COVID variant, Dis-Chem’s top priority is to ensure the health and safety of its staff, customers and community.”

In the UK, after a more than usually gloomy year in that sodden archipelago, Tesco is facing down the festive season in trepidation after staff at over half of its 22 DCs have threatened to walk out in protest at an “offensive” below-inflation pay offer. “Retail distribution workers are key workers who delivered essential services throughout the pandemic, which in turn delivered a +16.5% increase in profit to Tesco for the first half of the year,” points out a union spokesperson. In the United States, six Amazon workers in Illinois died in the partial collapse of its fulfilment centre during last Friday’s deadly tornado incident. Amazon has come under fire for keeping its workers on the job during a tornado warning. Back to London, where German discounter Aldi has opened a champagne bar, flogging £2.33 glasses of the same bubbly, Veuve Monsigny, which earned it the reputation of providing quality at low prices. Aldi has also just earned the coveted title of the UK’s most hygienic grocer, pipping the far posher Waitrose in second and M&S in third.

Comment: Workers the world over have been both angered and energised by the depredations of the past two years. Businesses would do well to pay attention.

It seems like just last week that we were reporting on the likely acquisition of AVI’s Snackworks division by Mondelez (It was. Ed), and goodness what a difference that week has made. Discussions between the two businesses have now been terminated, AVI has withdrawn its earlier cautionary statement, and the share price took a tumble to the tune of 6%. Adding insult to injury, shortly after the news of the collapsed deal broke, AVI let it be known that its CFO Owen Cressey, a stalwart of this business since 2006, would be leaving at the end of December, lured by the offer of the job of business unit president, sub-Saharan Africa, at (ahem) Mondelez International in January. He will be replaced by Justin O’Meara, latterly FD of the National Brands division. The one consolation is that such iconic brands as Bakers, Baumann’s, Pyotts and Provita will remain in South African hands, perhaps to be disposed of more profitably on another day.

Comment: Nevertheless, a blow – although AVI shareholders were entirely enamoured of the idea of the business without its mighty Snackworks portfolio.

In a year which has seen its fair share of product recalls, Pioneer Foods slips in under the posts, launching a recall of specific batches of Safari brand Peanuts & Raisins and Cashew nuts products, sold in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. Routine testing at the Safari plant in KZN identified a batch of products which tested positive for low levels of salmonella typhimurium, or salmonella. “Whilst we have not received any health-related complaints from consumers to date, we have decided to proceed to proactively recall these specific products,” says CEO Tertius Carstens. Completely unrelated, BMi Research’s 2021 Media Feedback Report for Sorghum Beer and 2021 Annual Quantification Report for Flavoured Alcoholic Beverages (FABs) in South Africa has – no surprises – established significant decline in the liquor sector this year, with sorghum hit particularly hard. FABs are likely to recover in the short to medium term, as new products drive volume growth.

Comment: And that’s a wrap for your manufacturers this year. More volume, fewer recalls in the ’22.

What’s the state of play like as we wind down the annus horribilis we have had no choice but to call 2021? Not exactly a constellation of bright spots, we’re afraid. GDP, as we reported last week, shrank -1.5% in the third quarter, with the financial, government, and personal sectors the only ones showing growth. StatsSA has revealed that while official unemployment is 34.4%, the actual number of unemployed South Africans when using the expanded definition that includes discouraged job seekers is just shy of the 50% mark. The ABSA Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) has collapsed to 43.5 points, which indicates a decline in manufacturing. Third-quarter growth in investments was nil, although spending on residential buildings, machinery and other assets did nudge things northward a touch. And on the upside, household consumption expenditure is expected to increase a little in the fourth quarter. Looking forward rising CPI, hikes in interest rates, higher fuel and food prices are likely weigh on household spending.

Comment: But then again, we’ve been surprised on the upside before, so who knows?