We have no doubt that Shoprite, ‘embarrassed’ by its recent tangle with ransomware hackers, has speedily and ruthlessly put stringent measures in place to ensure that it never happens again. But this should not prevent the rest of us from extracting what lessons we can from The Big Red One’s misfortune. After all, this is far from the first time this has happened: last year, the personal records about 4million of South Africans were exposed when Dis-Chem was attacked. Interpol estimates that businesses in Africa – which seem to take a more laissez-faire attitude to cybersecurity than elsewhere in the world – lose at least $4.12bn annually to these attacks, which are carried out using such arcane technologies as AI, bots, DDoS and polymorphic systems. And South Africa is a particular target – businesses here recorded 230million threat detections in 2020 – 2021, with Morocco and Kenya following very far behind at just over 70million each.

Comment: What can be done to prevent such losses? For starters – encrypt all data, don’t keep it in plain text like Shoprite did. And invest in cutting edge, cloud optimised cyber defence and vulnerability protection systems.

Food systems account for more than one-third of greenhouse gas emissions globally, and it is becoming increasingly urgent that this ratio be dramatically reduced if we’re to have food systems at all. But it’s not easy to turn around a behemoth that accounts for the livelihoods of 500 million farmers, workers, and employees globally. However, as the industry comes under increasing pressure to transform from consumers, investors, regulators and NGOs, McKinsey believes that retailers – with their ubiquity and buying power – are in a unique position to lead the change. To do this, they’ll need to focus on the five sustainability topics that matter – health, the economy, livelihoods, the environment, animal welfare – as well as cross-cutting themes. They’ll also need to understand how a well-positioned sustainability transformation can help them generate value, both by reducing the risks of inaction, and seizing the opportunities sustainability offers. Finally, they need to set up their transformation for success, anchored by a CEO and board who believe in the mission, supported by a dedicated sustainability team, and embedding sustainability in performance of the divisions to ensure accountability.

Comment: For more detail on this pressing topic, have a look over here .

Bringing the joy of super-quick home delivery to younger shoppers this week is Checkers, with the launch of a Limited edition 1/12th scale model of the retailer’s Sixty60 delivery motorbikes featuring an opening delivery box, kickstand and a miniature of the fast-becoming-iconic grocery bag used in deliveries. Targeting another demographic is SPAR, with the call for entries for the 2022 edition of the Women’s Virtual Challenge. This year’s theme, captured through the hashtag, #IRISE, is a celebration of how South African women conquer their challenges. “We look forward to seeing more people from diverse backgrounds run, jog, or walk in a show of appreciation to the countless inspiring women that rise above their challenges every day,” said race organiser Marlene Gunther. Run this way for details. Finally, according to the 2021 SA Loyalty Landscape Whitepaper, by research and consultancy firms Truth and BrandMapp, South Africans belong to an average of 8.7 loyalty programmes each, with 74% of the economically active belonging to at least one, and 70% of these enjoying cashbacks as their number one benefit.

Comment: In these tricky times, loyalty programmes are more an item of economic necessity than a nice to have for many shoppers.

In the UK, now that the retailers are getting into delivery, Amazon is going to war in the field of value, matching prices on hundreds of everyday items in the produce, meat and fish categories to those offered by rival Tesco under its Clubcard loyalty initiative. And speaking of delivery, in the US Walmart has committed to buying thousands of electric car startup Canoo’s Lifestyle Delivery Vehicles (LDVs), with plans to put them to use in last-mile applications next year. The vehicles have a 400km range, an interior customised for small package delivery, and are engineered for high frequency, stop-and-go deliveries. In China, meanwhile, Alibaba’s supermarket chain Freshippo is seeking to raise funds at a valuation of about $6bn, much lower than a hoped-for valuation of $10bn, and cutting its valuation expectations in the face of China’s COVID-19 restrictions, in particular in the economic hub of Shanghai. Freshippo trades out of 300 stores in 27 cities, offering grocery delivery to one of the world’s fastest-growing consumer markets.

Comment: Freshippo’s travail’s notwithstanding, online grocery is contested space around the world and the majors are investing heavily, one way or another.

Some insights to be gleaned from the Brait Annual Report about how Premier Foods is doing. Brait, you will recall, is an investment holding group owned in part by Shoprite’s Oom Christo Wiese, and the owner of the aforementioned Premier. Premier, says Brait, is doing very well, even in these straitened times, holding its margins even as wheat, fuel and energy prices go through the roof. As South Africa’s third-biggest bread producer, Premier has proved particularly susceptible to the fallout from the Ukraine conflict. This notwithstanding, its revenue and adjusted earnings before interest tax and depreciation allowances (Ebitda) were up over 10% from last year, with volume growth at its Millbake division up +9%. While plans to list the business have been put on ice in the face of our current economic storm, Brait still intends that Premier will go public sooner rather than later.

Comment: A business that has benefited from the tendency of consumers in tough times to focus their spending on staples.

According to the smart fellers over at GhostMail, PepsiCo has achieved revenue growth in each operating region in the world, with overall growth of +7% to $36.4bn for the six months through mid-June. The exception was Europe, where revenue declined -5% for the period to $4.8bn, largely as a result of the war in Ukraine, where the company has recognised $1.6bn in impairments as a result of the conflict. Back home, and unrelated, RCL FOODS, has been presented with an Environmental Certificate for Excellence in Sustainability from CHEP, for reducing its CO₂ emissions by -56%, its wood usage by -71%, and its waste by -59%, using CHEP’s share-and-reuse pooling services in the last year. This is equivalent to saving 8,420 trees in one year, 54 truck trips around the world and 219 truckloads of waste. And speaking of wood, big up to Pick n Pay and P&G who together this Mandela Day planted forests of 67 trees each at ten schools around the country under the latter’s ‘Forests for Good’ initiative. Finally, Tongaat Hulett has been suspended from the JSE until such time as it can finalise its results, which will only be possible once a balance sheet restructuring plan has been put in place.

Comment: The accounting scandal in its property division has cast a long shadow over the Tongaat Hulett business.

A minor but perhaps softening of total retail trade sales for the month of May, increasing just +0.1% YOY after April’s more robust (and upwardly revised) +4.3%. The consensus was that the number would be closer to +1.5%. The very bad news for our own great industry – under the banner of Food, Beverages and Tobacco in Specialised Stores – is that sales were down -5.6% YOY. The only sectors to record growth, in fact, were General Dealers at +3.7%, and All Other Retailers at +2.1%. The slowing rate of growth – matched by a recent decline in consumer confidence – is worrying news for the dear old South African economy, of which 60% is made up of consumer spending. And in other bad news just in, the hoary sages over at StatsSA tell us that consumer price inflation was 7.4% YOY for the month of June, up from 6.5% in May, and now well outside the government’s targeted band.

Comment: Tough times globally, but more so in countries like ours where the social safety net is already stretched very, very thin.