Retail Archives - AfricaBusiness.com

10Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

State of the Retail Nation Q3: Consumer confidence starts to recover ahead of Black Friday

NIQ South Africa has released its latest State of the Retail Nation analysis for the first nine months of 2024, showing healthy revenue prospects for the FMCG and Tech & Durables retail sectors. The report highlights a positive shift in consumer sentiment throughout the year, setting the stage for healthy sales growth during the Black Friday and festive season periods. NIQ’s data shows that 42% of South African consumers believe they are in a better financial position than they were a year ago. However, higher costs of living, low wage growth and unemployment continue to be a challenge for many. Among the 33% that report they feel worse off, the reasons for this sentiment included increased living costs (80%), the economic slowdown (54%), and concerns regarding job security (39%). Z...

14Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, South Africa News

3 strategies to maximise your Return On Ad Spend this retail season

Use first-party data to get personal in all the right ways, says Flow founder South Africa’s year-end retail season has officially kicked off, and with Black Friday, the December holidays, and Back to School campaigns around the corner, brands are under pressure to cut through the digital noise. As global giants with enormous advertising budgets expand into the local market, it’s clear that old marketing strategies won’t cut it anymore. To stay competitive, local brands need to turn to a powerful tool – one that’s already at their fingertips, according to Daniel Levy, Co-Founder of ad and data-tech platform Flow. “When it comes to connecting directly with your customers,” he says, “first-party data is the biggest weapon in your arsenal.” What is first-party data and why is it gold? F...

Shift to omnichannel payments in retail to drive efficiencies and enhance CX

19Jul

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Fintech

Shift to omnichannel payments in retail to drive efficiencies and enhance CX

By Quintin van der Linde, Head of Business Development & Don Lange, Partner Manager at Ecentric Payment Systems Even as more retailers turn to setting up online storefronts to extend their presence and cater to shoppers looking for convenience, the majority of South Africans still prefer to shop at physical stores, and retailers are looking for a solution that gives them a better way of managing transactions and reconciliation. Enter omnichannel payments - a solution that can provide merchants with a single view of all transactions, while also enhancing the shopping experience for customers. The current reality is that while shoppers are offered the convenience of paying for their purchases online, in-store, on different devices and different platforms, they face an inconsistent expe...

6Mar

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business

How to take advantage of retail trends in 2024

By Peter Ludi, Business Development Executive at redPanda Software Perhaps the single most effective thing retailers can do in 2024 and beyond is to acknowledge that aspirations and consultative conversations have overtaken reality. If a retailer wishes to take advantage of the latest and greatest trends for this year and next, it would do well to keep its feet firmly planted on the ground while working with a good partner to achieve its technology aspirations. What does this mean? We all know that the future is ambient technology that is always on and always ready to make the customer and employee experience better, but which is not intrusive. In this world the omnichannel is dead. Except that we are not in that world yet and most retailers are nowhere near proclaiming they’ve evolved p...

14Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Carefully balancing technology and people can elevate retailers and benefit SA. The Human Face of Retail

By Peter Ludi, Business Development Executive at redPanda Software There’s widespread acceptance that improving customer experience will go a long way towards attracting and retaining customers, especially at a time when there’s increased competition for valuable consumer spend. Naturally, all eyes turn to technology to remove friction, add convenience, automate, drive personalisation and much more. However, the deeper we move into the digital age it isn’t technology and automation that will save and grow retail, it’s the people. The theme that technology should not replace humans but augment them is well understood, but there’s more here than ordinarily meets the eye. Balancing technology with investment in people isn’t just a morally prudent approach, it is fundamental to a retailer’s...

8Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Tech

Retail is in the midst of the biggest technology paradigm shift yet: Insights from NRF 2024 New York

By Peter Ludi, Business Development Executive at redPanda Software While the environment for South African consumers will likely improve gradually over the course of the second half of 2024 off the back of better-than-expected inflation figures and an easing of global price pressures, consumer spend will likely remain constrained. This reality means retailers will need to stay ahead of competition to compete for valuable customer spend. As the recent National Retail Federation: Retail’s Big Trade Show held in New York recently proved, the world is entering the digital age in the true sense of the word at breakneck speed, and retailers around the world have no choice but to react, deploy and iterate. The conference, with more than 40,000 attendees, 1000 exhibitors and 450 speakers, is a...

18Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, Main

Expert Predicts Sustainable Retail Trends for 2024 and Beyond

Shopaholics are constantly changing how they look at the products and services they spend their money on, and one thing that can massively affect whether they buy something is whether it’s sustainable or not. Figures from Deloitte show how important sustainability is to modern shoppers and consumers, with 58% valuing durability, 39% focussing on repairability, and another 37% consider how biodiverse the purchase will be. The sands are shifting towards a more sustainable future in retail but what trends could we see emerge in the coming years? Vikki Makinson, head of marketing and communications at Oceans, the leading suppliers of sustainable toilet paper, has provided expert insight into the future trends of sustainable retail. Eco-conscious consumerism The bigges...

3Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Tech

Leveraging unified commerce solutions for customer-centric retail success

In the dynamic world of retail, understanding the evolving nature of the consumer journey is paramount. With increasing technological advancements and rising customer expectations, retailers need to be agile and responsive, ensuring their customers can seamlessly navigate an unlimited array of shopping experiences. To cater to this demand, unified commerce platforms are stepping up, offering solutions that not only enhance customer experience but also help retailers effectively manage their operations. In South Africa, where intermittent power supply often means people have to be tactical shoppers, understanding local nuances of using world-class international solutions become crucial. For instance, local retail customers often have to alter their shopping habits to 'follow the power'. P...

Retailers Can Drive Commerce Experiences Via Mobile Messaging, New Clickatell Research Shows

13Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

Retailers Can Drive Commerce Experiences Via Mobile Messaging, New Clickatell Research Shows

Clickatell (www.Clickatell.com), the Chat Commerce and business messaging leader, announced the results of its latest Chat Commerce Trends Report: Retail Edition, which reveals new findings about how today’s consumers prefer to communicate and make purchases with retail companies through mobile and chat messaging conversations. The report, which fielded responses from over 1,000 participants, found that 95% of customers now make retail purchases on their smartphones and 78% of consumers want to use mobile messaging with retail companies for convenience. To better understand how consumers communicate with retail brands, Clickatell’s new research found considerable interest in personalized and convenient commerce experiences through mobile messaging conversations. As global retailers head i...

Zebra Mobile Computer to Support Digitalisation of Operations in Africa

1Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Tech

Zebra Mobile Computer to Support Digitalisation of Operations in Africa

Zebra Technologies Corporation has introduced the TC15 mobile computer in Africa to help businesses in logistics, retail and field industries with a durable connectivity solution. The launch of the TC15 addresses the increasing need for a rugged, durable mobile computer for delivery drivers, transport and logistics staff, retail workers and small and medium-size enterprise (SME) owners in the region. This solution will help make it easier for workers to do their jobs and help them take more real-time control of their work. The TC15 is particularly suited to SME companies who might be tempted to purchase consumer-grade devices which require more frequent maintenance and device replacements due to lack of durability— and it shows in the total cost of ownership. While consumer cell phones ca...