In Nigeria, The Big Red One is upping its game with the introduction of ecommerce for its suppliers, who will henceforth be able to indulge in the simple delights of online orders, remittance advice, electronic statements and online claims via Shoprite’s e-Commerce Exchange platform. This, say Shoprite, will iron out the difficulties of reconciliation at both ends, and allow suppliers a view of stock levels across the stores of its Nigerian operation. Shoprite is apparently spending a fair bit of time and energy getting its supplier base up to speed, running systems training workshops and generally getting them excited about the possibilities of growing with an expanding business, offering as it does a wider reach, more volume and a cheaper route to market.

Comment: There is a school of thought which argues that you haven’t really done Africa until you’ve opened shop in Lagos.

Pick n Pay has opened its first store in Maputo, a solidly respectable 3,500m² number with clothes and liquor and, as importantly, jobs for 250 locals. The store is a franchise set-up licensed to the retail franchising group Retail Masters with whom PnP have a territorial agreement for Mozambique. This local ownership means that The Big Blue will be able to leverage, as they put it, highly experienced local market knowledge and expertise. Further expansion is on the cards for Pick n Pay on the Continent, with new ground soon to be broken in Mauritius, Malawi and Angola, whose capital Luanda is reputedly the most expensive city in the world for an expat to settle in.

Comment: Our brother in law, who is a brilliant if somewhat intense young man, reckons that where there are maybe 15 formal supermarkets in Mozambique right now, there will be 200 in five years time.

Business as usual, you say? Wrong! Massmart has engaged global supply chain optimisation service provider Manhattan Associates to provide them with several components from their Manhattan Scale: Supply Chain Architected for Logistics Execution (a mouthful, but kind of catchy) bundle, including its warehouse management module and some of the optimization solution stuff. And all of this, you will be interested to note, will be rolled out at a new 12,077m² warehouse facility being opened in Gauteng by Cambridge Foods, who were looking for a robust supply chain system for their accelerated rollout programme. They currently have 28 stores and are eyeing 100 in the next four years.

Comment: Manhattan, it may not surprise you to know, was the business responsible for getting Walmart’s suppliers RFID-compliant…

Le Grand Bleu will not be embarking on a buying spree in order to achieve its ambitious, erm, ambition as it were to double up on revenue by 2020, but instead will concentrate on growing from its existing base, which loosely translated would involve organic growth of 7-8% per annum. Unilever’s global revenues have remained steady at $57-65 billion per annum for the better part of a decade. In the boom years of 2003-2005 (remember them?) the average growth among the top 21 consumer goods manufacturers was 4-5%, so Unilever’s target is steep. Unilever CEO Paul Polman points out, however, that only about 50% of Unilever’s 180-odd brands are distributed in all of the countries in the world, leaving a lot of what he terms “white space”.

Comment: Much of Unilever’s strength lies in the emerging markets, so while a stretch, it might just be doable.

Both Adcock and Aspen have welcomed the alignment of healthcare procurement with all the elements of BEE following the publication last week of the regulations pertaining to the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act. Adock Ingram were understandably miffed recently at having received such a small slice of the government’s ARV tender, as it felt its BEE status had not been properly considered. Last year, Adcock sold 13% of its stock to black investors. From hereon in, bidders on state tenders will have to submit their BBBEE status level verification, and where two bidders have scored equal total points, the one with the highest number of preference points will win.

Comment: Or they could play a game of American football to decide the outcome, as it has simpler rules.

Clover has added another R277million worth of CAPEX in addition to the 350-off it will be spending on the breathlessly-named Project Cielo Blu. The new monies, ahem, will be spent on the relocation of cheese manufacturing facilities to the coast, increased collection capacity in certain regions and various value-added packaging projects. Cielo Blu itself, you might remember, involves the construction and outfitting of a 90m superyacht with advanced stealth capabilities for the destabilisation of corrupt regimes in the South Pacific and Caribbean regions relocation of the long-life products plant from Midrand to PE and Pinetown, the incorporation of the Joburg beverages factory into the Midrand facility and the expansion of other production and distribution sites.

Comment: Clover’s investments and ongoing efforts to reduce historical inefficiencies make this one a share for the punters among us to watch.

Retail sales jumped 9.8% year-on-year for the misty, mellow and as it turns out fruitful month of April, with highest growth reported among retailers of textiles, clothing, footwear and intriguingly-named “leather goods” at a whacking 16.9%, followed by pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and toiletries at 13.7% and furniture, appliances and equipment at 13.1%. The increase from March was 2.3%, with growth for the year so far at a pleasing 6.7% from last year. And retail inflation, as many a hangdog retailer would be happy to tell you if you bought them a drink and a sandwich, is trundling along at 1.8%, a rate which hardly makes buying forward for handsome future returns worth the effort. However, increased retail input prices (like salaries, transport and electricity) and increased demand, should see inflation tend northward later this year.

Comment: Comment: On the retail sales front, our beautiful young wife has been stretching the monthly fine imported footwear budget of late, come to think of it.

CAVI Brands subsidiary Incolabs, which we bet you didn’t know brings you such handy products as Everysun, Tropitone and Sp20, will be dipping its responsibly-tanned toe into the food market with the acquisition of Sara Lee Coffee and Tea (including the classy Douwe Egberts coffee brand) and Natreen Sweetener. CAVI itself operates in the health and beauty sector, with such upscale subsidiaries as Chanel South Africa, Dermologica, Solal and the prestige Cosmetics Group.

Just stop it! Stop it at once! Stop your irresponsible rumour-mongering about Pick n Pay buying Tesco, because they just aren’t, alright! That’s the message coming through loud and clear from Chairman Ackerman the Younger, who has put the kibosh on that baseless speculation for once and for all, until next week, dismissing the talk as merest conjecture. In unrelated PnP news Chairman A. the Y. has expressed confidence in a favourable outcome when the Aussie authoriddies pass judgement at the end of the month on the sale of Franklins to Metcash.

The Trade Tatler says a respectful farewell to Just On Cosmetics CEO, Mike Naidoo, who died last week. Just On is a chain of around 40 retailers of affordable cosmetics and personal care items in the Eastern Cape, Free State and KZN. Businesses such as these are the unsung heroes of the South African retail landscape, bringing brands to consumers in areas often overlooked by the majors.

Heineken CFO, the-couldn’t-be-more-Dutch-sounding Rene Hooft Graafland, has mentioned at a Deutsche Bank consumer conference that the South African JV with Brandhouse makes huge sense when it comes to boosting growth in an attractive market, as does its partnership with Diageo in the distribution of Guiness across the Thirsty Continent.