A quick recap: Just as we were about to hit send on last week’s Trade Tatler, Shoprite launched Pixie, its cutely named Smart AI shopping assistant, on the Sixty60 app. The idea behind Pixie is that it hyper-personalises shoppers’ experiences based on their buying habits, restocking patterns and preferences, all information that it mines from Xtra Savings data. Its new interface features a ‘Smart Basket’, basically product cards that users swipe to browse, swipe up to remove, or swipe down to add to their basket. Only Xtra Savings Plus members will have access to Pixie for now, and there are plans to introduce conversational features that will go beyond recommendations to automatically reorder items or even plan weekly meals based on shoppers’ budgets or what’s in their pantry. For more info on what lies behind Pixie, watch this video. 

In other news, Shoprite, together with disaster response organisation Gift of the Givers, have given Verulam Secondary School in KZN the gift of clean water through a fully operational borehole system. As in other parts of the country, the KZN north coast has been plagued by lengthy and severe water shortages, causing taps and toilets at the school to run dry. Now the borehole feeds the school’s entire water network, including bathrooms, the kitchen and cleaning facilities, and the water undergoes reverse-osmosis filtration before feeding the school’s two dedicated drinking stations. While dedicated to the school, the system also serves the broader community, with parents and residents being allowed to collect water through a designated access point at the school gates. The result has been better school attendance, reduced plastic waste due to bottles being brought from home, and it has also meant that the school’s nutrition programme can run uninterrupted.

News just in from Clicks is that it has opened its 800th pharmacy, an important milestone for the health and beauty specialist, which at the end of its 2024 financial year had a total of 720 pharmacies… that’s not bad going as we are only halfway through FY2026. Since reaching its milestone of 1,000 stores in November last year, Clicks has set itself a new medium-term target of 1,200 stores, aiming to open 40 to 50 outlets per year. Pharmacy no. 800 was opened in Oudtshoorn at the Klein Karoo Agri Centre. 

Moving on, this little retailer and its business model have been on our radar for some time now. Operating out of eight stores in Gauteng, Best Before is a grocery clearance store that stocks short-dated and surplus goods – from pantry essentials to personal care products – at up to 70% off the normal retail price. Founded nine years ago, Best Before differs from traditional salvage stores that sell damaged or shop-soiled stock by focusing on short-dated and past-dated products – that are still safe to consume –  sourced directly from suppliers. After launching its courier delivery option earlier this year to the rest of the country, Best Before has now joined the Uber Eats platform, with the partnership being trialled in the Fourways area. Uber will not be charging high prices for the product, maintaining the same in-store price, with delivery fees varying from R6.00 to R20.00 depending on the delivery distance.

We start off this segment with news that is never easy to read, that of job losses on the horizon, this time at Morrisons’ head office. The business has not been afraid to name the cause of the restructuring, stating that it is taking the “tough but necessary decision” in order to “capitalise on the potential of AI to improve performance”. Reports say that 200 jobs are at risk, with the retailer stating that it is offering affected colleagues its “full support”.

On to some lighter stories, German discount grocery chain Lidl has started building its first-ever pub. While Lidl’s home country is known for its love of the amber brew, the discounter has chosen a different – although equally beer-loving – geography to launch this format, Northern Ireland. Getting the go-ahead to build the pub was not an easy process, taking the retailer over a year to sort out some legal roadblocks. The premises will be opened next to an existing Lidl store, and will seat around 60 patrons, offering Lidl’s range of wines, beers, ciders, spirits and liqueurs.  It is expected to open in the next few months during the European summer.

From the pub over to the laundromat, Asda has announced that it is planning to install up to 700 self‑service laundry machines at its stores through its partnership with the ME Group. ME are providers of photobooths (Photo.ME), digital printing kiosks (Print.ME), food vending machines (Feed.ME) and now self-service laundry machines (Wash.ME) across the UK’s car parks, petrol forecourts, supermarkets… basically anywhere with high footfall. The machines will appear at Asda Supercentres, Superstores, supermarkets and Express sites from May, allowing shoppers to wash (and dry) while they shop.