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After the brouhaha surrounding Ivan Saltzman’s internal memo exactly three news cycles ago, Dis-Chem are undoubtedly relieved to bring you their interim results for the six months through August, and a solid set of numbers they are, with revenue up +9.3%, assisted thither by good growth in dispensary (+17.7%) and the baby category (9.8%) thanks to new store openings and the acquisition of Baby Boom. Wholesale also not too shabby, with the assistance of more profitable pharmacy volume following the Medicare acquisition, and growth of +22.5% in The Local Choice (TLC), a franchisor of numerous independent franchisee pharmacies. Dis-Chem has added another half a million loyalty members, for a total of 7.3 million, knocking on the door of Clicks’ venerable ClubCard programme (9.7 million members there) and accounting for some 72.7% of front shop revenue. “Our relentless commitment to delivering high quality products and service excellence will continue to promote customer support within the resilient markets in which the Group operates,” says Mr Saltzman himself, still leading from the front, although shareholders and analysts did hear from Mr Saltzman Jr too yesterday… perhaps a changing of the guard will happen sooner rather than later?

Comment: For greater – ahem – granularity on those numbers, check out the excellent work of our gimlet-eyed analysts.

No point beating about the bush, Massmart has not had an easy time of it these past how many years. But one area where they seem to be succeeding is in e-commerce, and this is due in no small part to the power and influence of parent company Walmart. Since October 2021, Massmart’s team of software engineers has grown from 28 to approximately 300, as part of a multi-million-dollar investment to expand the organisation’s e-commerce capacity. Some of the Group’s major technology achievements this year alone include the revamped Game website, the Makro shopping app and the Group’s new advanced store employee fulfilment application, Global Integrated Fulfilment (GIF). The Makro shopping app now accounts for a significant portion of the brand’s e-commerce revenue, which when we last checked was growing at a roaring +108% (as per the HY2022 numbers). “Through this investment and leveraging the Walmart ecosystem, we are rapidly accelerating our journey to maturity in Massmart e-commerce from an estimated five to eight years down to two to three years,” says Shilpan Bhagat, Walmart’s head of e-commerce product and technology for Africa. In not-so-great news for the business, its months-long wage negotiations with Saccawu – which represents 85% of Makro staff – have ground to a halt, and Massmart faces the prospect of an indefinite strike as the festive season kicks off.

Comment: A tough finish to a hard year.

Let’s take a look, shall we, at Pick n Pay’s new flagship Waterstone store in Somerset West, which presages the shape of things to come as the “rejuvenated” Pick n Pay format focuses on more upmarket shoppers. We have a coffee bar, fresh fruit and vegetables (um… never mind. Ed.), an in-store ‘Steak Shop’, with a dry ager cabinet, cheese and wine pairing, a new fresh flower and potted plant section, wider aisles, and shelves stocked, inter alia, with the new premium private label, Crafted Collection by PnP, and more products and services expected to launch in the coming months. To Clicks now, where CFO Michael Fleming is stepping down after 11 years on the job, to be replaced by Gordon Traill, currently chief of support services in Clicks with responsibility for supply chain, retail distribution centres, property and information technology. Next up, in Langa, which is underserved by the likes of Mr D and Uber Eats, Cloudy Deliveries has delivered more than 6,000 orders – all on the humble bicycle – of groceries from spaza shops, takeaways from restaurants, and even home-based laundromats since starting shortly before lockdown. Nice one. Finally, to Shoprite, which has just announced a minority investment in local technology start-up Omnisient, Africa’s first privacy-preserving data collaboration platform provider.

Comment: Shoprite, you may recall, had a data breach issue last year; the purchase of this business seems not unrelated.

To South Korea, now, where we do not often venture, but where online robot techie outfit Ocado has set up shop through its preferred modus of teaming up with an existing retailer. In this case, it has partnered with Lotte Shopping, which operates department stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets and e-commerce, with more than 1,000 stores nationwide. The deal is Ocado’s 12th such partnerships across 10 different countries, and it plans to build six Customer Fulfilment Centres (CFCs) by 2028 – the first of a new generation of multistorey facilities, with lightweight robots and hi-tech van routing systems to match. Over in Blighty, in the meantime, Tesco is opening three new GetGo cashless stores, but this time it will give punters the option of paying for their goods with more traditional payment methods than just nonchalantly strolling out like you won the place. “Whether customers choose the checkout-free option or prefer to use a checkout, we want to make the shopping trip as quick and convenient as possible,” says Managing Director for Tesco Convenience, Kevin Tindall.

Comment: And don’t we wish we’d snaffled up some Ocado stock before they became the next Apple.

What’s up with the price of chicken these days? Apart from, you know, being up? Apparently, we can’t blame our old nemeses, Brazil, India and the US right now, together with the Department of Trade and Industry they rode in on. It’s more complicated than that. While the SA Association of Meat Importers and Exporters (AMIE) has called anew for a comprehensive review of the offending tariffs – which they say amount to a tax burden South Africans can no longer shoulder – the South African Poultry Association argues that raw materials, especially feed costs, and other inputs, are driving up prices. According to the head of the association’s broiler board, Izaak Breitenbach, the price of feed increased +22% last year and the price of chicken by +17%. Feed makes up 65% of the cost of the finished bird, he observes. Also in 2021, South Africa produced 1.91 million tons of poultry meat and consumed 2.3 million tons, with imports making up 19% of consumption.

Comment: : This is our national protein we’re talking about. Whatever the cause, the effects of price increases are felt in homes across South Africa.

Big up this week to Pura Beverages, maker of Pura Soda and Pura Kids, which has just been listed by Aldi in the US. The first shipment of 27,000 cases of Pura Soda will hit the shelves of 2,200 Aldi stores in January as part of Aldi’s Global Finds feature. And congrats also to Danone, a sprightly and well-nourished 50 this year, which is marking the occasion by signing a partnership agreement with Ncora Dairy in the Eastern Cape. The deal is worth R75m per annum, with 2,400 cows producing approximately 10.5 million litres of milk – but more importantly, indirectly benefiting over 1,200 community members living within the vicinity of the farm. Danone is looking to develop new agricultural models that can regenerate the planet while feeding a growing local population. “(The) agreement forms a significant part of this commitment as it aims to develop and promote regenerative models of commercial agriculture,” says Operations Director and possessor of a profoundly cool name, Kid Nkantsu.

Comment: If we don’t transform the farming sector to the benefit of people and planet, it’s game over – simple as that.

Nedbank for one is gloomy about the prospects for consumer confidence in the next few months. “High inflation and slowing economic growth will weigh disposable incomes while rising interest rates and the weak job market will keep consumer confidence generally low,” they say. “As a result, we expect households to be cautious of spending, especially on discretionary goods. Retail sales will draw some support from the end-of-year discounting, but volumes are unlikely to be significantly higher than over the same period in 2021.” And if it’s a breezier outlook you’re hoping for, don’t go knocking on the doors of the big semi-trailer belonging to the Road Freight Association. Rising global demand and local fuel prices will deeply impact the South African supply chain and consumers, they say. “Diesel … is the energy source that drives our logistics chain,” intones the association’s Gavin Kelly. “The reality is every time the price increases, transporters have to pass that cost on. They cannot absorb it.” The price of fuel rose sharply this week, with diesel up significant R1.43 per litre

Comment: A supply chain less dependent on a scarce and geopolitically sensitive commodity would be a good place to start.