So how’s Pick n Pay’s Smart Shopper partnership with FNB going? In one word, gangbusters. After launching ‘Burger Friday’ in April – where Smart Shoppers who pay with an FNB card can get four fresh buns, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and four burger patties for just R60 – FNB saw an increase in customer sign-ups, while Smart Shopper sign-ups grew by over +50% YoY. Now Pick n Pay is trying to cover all the other days of the week, with R100 for 2 pizzas from Thursday to Saturday, Bombsquad Boerie Saturday, where Smart Shopper customers pay R70 for a six-pack (that’s what they’re calling it) of wors and six hotdog rolls, the Sunday Chicken Special on two whole rotisserie chickens and Meat Cut Tuesdays where shoppers get bulk meat deals. Monday and Wednesday are looking a little sad, but perhaps something will come yet. And not to be left out, three months after their partnership started, Standard Bank and Shoprite are expanding to include Shoprite and Checkers LiquorShops as well as Petshop Science stores, where customers can now unlock up to 30% back in UCount Rewards points on the wide range of treats, toys and specialised pet food available.

We missed this story when it first broke over a year ago, but no matter, since it has only come to a conclusion this week. Last year in May, L’Oréal South Africa submitted a complaint to the Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) regarding the similarity of Nutriwomen’s Dermacare packaging to L’Oréal’s CeraVe skincare range. The similarities cited included the font, colour, design and general layout of the product’s information on the pack, in other words, that good old ‘look and feel’. The ARB agreed at the time and gave Nutriwomen three months to redesign its packs, a decision Nutriwomen appealed in Oct 2024. The ARB stuck to its original verdict, giving Nutriwomen until January to make amends, and it advised ARB members not to advertise Dermacare products until the packs had changed. Fast forward to May this year, the ARB received photos showing that the packs hadn’t been given their makeover, and that Dis-Chem, exclusive stockist of the range and an ARB member, had continued to sell it in its Sandton and Mall of Africa stores after the Jan deadline. Dis-Chem has now pulled the products off its shelves and online platform, but Dermacare is still having it out with the ARB over its lapsed membership to the board (which, it says, means it doesn’t have to comply), although at the time of the first decision it was still a member and therefore bound by it. Dis-Chem, however, was and remains an ARB member and, as such, is forced to comply with the board’s directive to remove the products from its shelves.

According to industry research group Worldpanel, discount retailer Lidl’s UK market share has reached a record high over the last three months to mid-July at 8.3%, +11.1% higher than the same period last year. In other words, half a million new shoppers flocked to the discount retailer’s stores from May to July as UK punters continue to feel the pinch. This means Lidl may soon overtake its closest rival in the market share race, Morrisons, currently sitting in 5th. Tesco and Sainsbury’s remain in first and second spot, with 28.3% and 15.1% market share respectively. Very much related, according to Asda’s monthly Income Tracker, 40% of UK households saw their spending power drop in June as UK inflation reached an 18-month high of +3.6%. Unsurprisingly, lower-earning households have been hardest hit, with spending power dropping 8.1% compared to last year. Moving across to the US of A, Walmart has snapped up Instacart exec, Daniel Danker, as executive VP of AI acceleration, among his other responsibilities. “We’re on the eve of another transformation as AI enables us to reinvent commerce and serve customers and communities in entirely new ways,” said Danker. Walmart also announced that it is creating a new role, executive VP of AI platforms, although the lucky incumbent is yet to be announced.