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So Game’s had itself a bit of a brand revamp, although thankfully it has kept the pink that drew our startled attention when back in the seventies we first saw it glaring from its Brickhill Road storefront. Brand new payoff line, “You’ve got Game”, lifted, if we are not mistaken, off a Spike Lee movie, and according to the brand and customer director Katherine Madley, “It’s inclusive. It’s a quintessential insight on the everyday swagger that South Africans have. And it’s indicative of the brand and the brand’s personality and nature.” Certainly, it’s a playful nod to the brand’s proud heritage as maybe the first business ever in SA to bring fun into shopping. Whether or not the revamp will be sufficient to revive the flagging fortunes of the business, which has had a couple of lean years, remains to be seen.

Comment: Just what the doctor ordered, though, especially right now: more fun, less money.

Shoprite have just recently released their 2019 Sustainability Report in which they document their alignment with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. By any measure, their results have been impressive: they’ve subsidised staples to the value of R141m, donated surplus food and goods to the value of R60.4m and served more than 20 million meals to communities in need in the 2019 financial year. On the planetary front, they’ve recycled over 36,000 tons of cardboard and almost 4,000 tons of plastic across the business, and saved 32 million kWh of electricity by using energy-efficient lighting, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30,562 tons of CO2 equivalent. They measure their impact by five pillars: People, Customers, Communities, Suppliers and Planet, and believe their role extends beyond living their purpose of being Africa’s most accessible and affordable retailer to include developing and supporting its employees, customers and their communities.

Comment: A thoroughly pragmatic retailer, but one which nevertheless recognises its larger duty in South Africa and the world.

Nice work from Pick n Pay Namibia, a subsidiary of the Ohlthaver & List (O&L) Group, which has just signed a three-year wage agreement with the Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union (Nafau), both parties demonstrating that it doesn’t always have to be anger and recriminations between labour and capital. The agreement will see increases of 6%, 6.5% and 7% over the next three years, with the additional payment of a transport allowance for all staff, a housing allowance for permanent staff, and a guaranteed thirteenth cheque. The business is rolling out a medical aid scheme, fully paid by the company, which covers all employees in the bargaining unit. “In support of our purpose, 'creating a future and enhancing life', PnP believes that it can only be a great place to shop for our customers if we are a great place to work for our employees,” says O&L Group manager for human capital Johannes Kangandjera.

Comment: Where do we sign up?

Tesco won’t refer to competitors Aldi and Lidl as “discounters”. Why? Obvious, really: “The reason I refer to them as German retailers is, actually, every time we talk about them as discounters we do a bit of marketing for them,” says outgoing boss Dave Lewis, doing a bit of marketing for them. “Actually, given their pricing is not a discount price, it feels like an inaccurate description.” Across the pond, Walmart is having a stab at doing the right thing, and finding the experience oddly refreshing. First up, it’s taken ammo off the shelves that could be used in military-style weapons and handguns. And second, it’s starting to do the right thing by the workers, bringing the minimum wage up to $10 an hour and anticipating that it would inevitably go over $15, and just this week announcing an overhaul of its health benefits, against a backdrop of a tighter labour market.

Comment: Nice. Sometimes the arc of history does bend toward justice. If you push it hard enough.

A trading update from SA’s largest poultry producer, Astral Foods, this week, and as we’ve come to expect from that embattled sector, it wasn’t what it might have been, with HEPS, that reliable measure of profitability, down by a hardly encouraging “not more than 60%” according to the Group. This in the face of higher maize prices due to a smaller crop this year, as well as depressed selling prices, which conspired nefariously to put the squeeze on the old margin. “Disappointing consumer spending patterns during Astral Foods’ 2019 financial year, together with high levels of poultry imports, resulted in average poultry selling prices below that of the comparative period,” says the business. On the upside, they expect consumer spending to recover somewhat in 2020, and look forward to a better maize harvest.

Comment: Still, it’s a rum game, the poultry racket.

Last week, Zeder Investments saw a decline of -63% in its HEPS, the result of challenging trading conditions in the agri, food and related business sector to which it has significant exposure through its investments in such businesses as Capespan, Zaad, Kaap Agri, Agrivision Africa and Quantum Foods. Are the shareholders despondent? Why no, they are not. Zeder, you see, has a 28.6% stake in Pioneer Foods, which represents 51.2% of its portfolio, and the sale of which to PepsiCo has been approved by 99.65% of Zeder shareholders, although the closure of the deal remains subject to further terms and conditions. Zeder is likely to pick up around R6.4bn from the transaction, netting R4.82bn, and should distribute between R4.25bn and R4.75bn of this largesse to shareholders.

Comment: If the deal goes forward it will be quite the shakeup in the sector.

There’s a new report out about the state of retail competition in the informal sector and it makes for one heck of a read, dispelling myths and exposing hard truths on every page. Notably, it takes a hard look at what the major retailers and independent wholesalers have done to a once-thriving spaza sector, squeezing both profits and livelihoods out of this quintessential feature of the South African socio-economic landscape. It also questions the received wisdom that South African-owned businesses are being out-traded by foxy foreigners. Rather, they are being out-bought by vertically-integrated stores which act as outlets for larger wholesalers, and whose employees, not owners, are vulnerable immigrants. And some of these larger businesses are trading as far under the radar as tiny counter-service stores reputedly do. This is just scratching the surface. For a deeper dive, have a look here.