retailers Archives - AfricaBusiness.com

25Jul

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Tech

POS versus POS: Selecting the right solution is far more complex than chasing the cheapest

By Peter Ludi, Business Development Executive at redPanda Software A point of sale, commonly referred to as POS, is a vital cornerstone of any retail business, regardless of whether it sells products or services. However, a misunderstanding of the definition of POS sees many small and medium-sized retailers fall into the trap of buying a payment acceptance terminal as opposed to investing in a platform that will future-proof the business and open a host of growth and sales opportunities. Let’s start with a summarised definition of POS. At its simplest, it is the place where a transaction is executed. This can be in-person or online on various channels along the customer journey. A POS is a vital part of the customer journey as it is the crescendo of what has come prior to that point. No...

25Jul

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Tech

NielsenIQ integrates Consumer Panel and Retail measurement data into its NIQ Discover platform – providing clients with a powerful connected user experience

NielsenIQ has integrated consumer panel and retail measurement data into NIQ Discover – enhancing the cloud-based platform’s ability to help brands and retailers differentiate and succeed in a competitive market. High quality consumer panel data brought to life through on-demand technology now live in all 23 NIQ panel markets across North America, Europe, Asia, Pacific, South Africa and Latin America NielsenIQ (NIQ) announced the integration of Consumer Panel and Retail measurement data into its NIQ Discover platform, providing retailers and brands the Full View™ on a single platform. NIQ Discover enhances the client experience by leveraging a new cloud-based architecture and aggregation engine that provides faster data access and greater user flexibility. NIQ's Discover platform fo...

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...

30Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

The power of the scaffolding software development approach in retail

Niel Coetzee, Head of Engineering at redPanda Software In recent years, many South African retailers have come to rely on no-code and low-code solutions which ostensibly simplifies the software development process. While the appeal is undeniable, these methods often trap businesses in a web of unoptimised code, vendor lock-in, and restricted adaptability. Traditional low-code and no-code solutions may seem attractive at first glance. They promise speed, ease of use, and require less technical expertise. However, lurking beneath the surface are issues that can turn them into ticking time bombs. The code is often suboptimal, resulting in clunky and slow software. While employees might be adept at dragging and dropping low-code and no-code solutions in such environments, they can be left st...

Half of Retailers Say Out-of-Stock Items Will be Biggest Challenge in 2023

16Jan

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business

Half of Retailers Say Out-of-Stock Items Will be Biggest Challenge in 2023

SML RFID, an end-to-end RFID solution provider for global retailers, has today announced the launch of part one of its State of Retail 2022/2023 report, finding that 48% of retailers believe frequently out-of-stock items cause the biggest challenge to them serving customers in today’s retail environment. With an additional half (48%) of retailers reportedly seeing improving the in-store customer experience as a top priority throughout 2022, the report casts light on industry focuses and trends going forward into 2023. The first of a two-part series, State of Retail 2023 Part 1: Order Fulfilment and the In-Store Customer Experience specifically analyzes current trends and challenges facing the day-to-day operations of retailers. Through the report’s interaction with over 500 senior decisi...

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...

Afrikrea Launches ANKA to Power Global African E-Commerce

28Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, Republic of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

Afrikrea Launches ANKA to Power Global African E-Commerce

Ivorian company partners with DHL and Visa and builds SaaS Platform for omnichannel global selling for African micro retailers Afrikrea, the e-commerce platform for “all things made of Africa”, is launching ANKA - an all-in one SaaS solution to provide a seamless ecommerce, payments and global shipping online service for thousands of micro retailers and businesses on the continent and around the world, as it continues to power e-commerce for Africa. Launched to coincide with Afrikrea’s fifth anniversary of operations, ANKA (meaning “Ours” in Bambara and Djoula) allows merchants to easily: Sell via a customised online storefront (like Shopify), social media platforms or by links such as on Gumroad and also the Afrikrea marketplace. This is carried out via an omnichannel dashboard with ...

16Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

SA shoppers are online. Retailers need to meet them with an exceptional experience

Consumers are embracing the e-commerce experience in growing numbers and corporate South Africa is taking serious notice, according to Geoff Hardy, Head of Digital, Immersion Group, a global team of experience design experts. Across the globe online sales have surged, while locally online transactions on Black Friday alone grew by more than 60%, and a recent study released by Mastercard found that 68% of South Africans are shopping more online since the beginning of last year. “The Covid-19 pandemic undoubtedly accelerated prevailing trends as well as consumer behaviour and preferences by as much as a decade. This extraordinary industry-wide transformation is a forecast of the future of South African retail,” notes Hardy. He says a solid digital footprint and strategy have become non-negot...

Why ecommerce matters for small businesses in SA

14Mar

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Why ecommerce matters for small businesses in SA

There has been a permanent change in the way that people shop and, in turn, the way that businesses need to operate. In the absence of brick-and-mortar stores being open during the lockdown, as well as a general fear of crowded malls when things were able to re-open, South Africa’s ecommerce sector exploded. According to Trevor Gosling, Co-founder and CEO of Lulalend – financing partner to South Africa’s small- to medium-enterprises (SMEs), he has seen a phenomenal growth in ecommerce businesses who have connected with them for SME financing. Between the period of October 2020 and February 2021, Lulalend saw an 86% increase in loans made to ecommerce businesses and online retailers in comparison to the same period between 2019 and 2020. “The loans were strongly linked to growth-related req...

TradeDepot highlights smaller packs and increased food spending as top trends that will shape Nigeria’s retail sector in 2021

12Jan

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Nigeria News

TradeDepot highlights smaller packs and increased food spending as top trends that will shape Nigeria’s retail sector in 2021

TradeDepot, the B2B eCommerce platform for consumer goods in Africa, has today released new insights from its market data that highlights the trends that will shape Nigeria’s retail sector in 2021. According to TradeDepot, the impact of the pandemic, rising inflation, border closures and other issues drove significant changes in behaviour for retailers, distributors and manufacturers in 2020. As the sector settles into the new year, TradeDepot predicts that some of the main trends that shaped 2020 - particularly smaller packaging for consumer goods and increased spending on food and essential goods due to dwindling disposable income and people spending more time at home - will continue to influence behaviour across the market. The retail sector is the third largest contributor to Nigeria’s...