Now here’s a story that quickly goes from “rather interesting” when you first read it to “massively freakin’ interesting” when digging a little deeper. Subject to competition authority approval (as these things always are), Shoprite is looking to acquire a majority stake in R&A Cellular, a point‑of‑sale platform particularly popular with informal traders in townships and rural areas. Founded in the early noughties by husband-and-wife team Rui and Amelia Campos (the R&A part of the name), R&A Cellular grew from a distributor for cellular products (the Cellular part of the name) in the informal market to now also offering a whole lot more, like prepaid electricity, gaming and shopping vouchers, as well as other financial products. What does this transaction mean for the two parties? For R&A, it means piggybacking on the scale of the country’s biggest FMCG retailer, and most likely expanding its offering to include Shoprite’s Money Market service. And for Shoprite, not only does it mean jumping firmly into the informal market, where other big guys like Pepkor (through Flash) and Capitec are already playing hardball, but it also means loads and loads of informal market shopper data, which Shoprite will no doubt use to inform where to open its next Usave, or 10. But wait, there’s more… according to R&A’s website (see here), the platform also offers Pick n Pay and Makro vouchers. So if that remains the case, Shoprite is going to own some of its competitors’ digital products. See where this is going?

Another acquisition, this time by Woolworths, which has announced that it intends to acquire 100% of in2food, one of Woolies’ biggest suppliers of its private label convenience foods. With an annual turnover of R5bn, this business is no small fry, and it has been supplying Woolies (which also happens to be in2food’s biggest customer) with premium convenience food, fresh produce, ambient and bakery products for over 30 years. “This acquisition represents a compelling opportunity to bring a key strategic capability closer to the Woolworths Foods business,” said Woolies CEO Roy Bagattini, while also emphasising that the deal will not mean a change in Woolworths’ food sourcing model. in2food will remain a standalone business under the Woolies umbrella, and will continue to be led by its very experienced, entrepreneurially minded leadership team. As with Shoprite’s transaction above, this acquisition is subject to competition approval, as well as a few regulatory and commercial conditions being met.

“…. as part of the [SPAR] Group’s ongoing focus on improving operational efficiency and competitiveness, SPAR will be implementing a voluntary severance programme in certain areas of the business.” Released by the SPAR Group on Tuesday this week, these are difficult words to read. But from a business perspective, we must acknowledge that something had to give to ensure the business’s longer-term sustainability. As reassurance to its retailers, SPAR clarified that any retrenchments would not affect the Group’s retailers, or the services provided to them, and that it will “remain focused on supporting SPAR’s network of independent retailers”.

Next, Checkers has received the proverbial rap over the knuckles from the Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) over its “somewhere over the West Coast” TikTok ad, which showed a Sixty60 delivery being made to a houseboat via helicopter. The ad was brought to the ARB’s attention by a resident of St Helena Bay (somewhere on the West Coast), claiming that it was misleading. The ARB had to agree, in part… not with the fact that people could reasonably expect their deliveries to be made by a chopper (that part was clearly just for dramatic effect), but that the opening and closing statements of the ad made false ‘claims’. You see, Sixty60 does not deliver “anywhere”, and more specifically, it does not deliver to many locations along the West Coast. Will Checkers pull the ad? Well, it hasn’t yet, and it doesn’t have to, if it is not a member of the ARB – a quick search online reveals conflicting information regarding whether it is in fact a member or not. The decision still carries weight, though, and if nothing else, sends a message to all advertisers to be wary of any bold (even if intentionally far-fetched) claims made.

Kroger, the biggest ‘pure-play’ supermarket chain in the US, has a new CEO. New Zealand-born Greg Foran took over the role from Kroger’s interim CEO in early Feb, and astonishingly, was the first external hire for Kroger’s top role in the 142 years that the chain has been operating. Previously President and CEO of Walmart US, and most recently the CEO of Air New Zealand, Foran is described as a ‘back-to-basics’ retailer, who has already outlined his key focus areas: 1) improving shoppers’ price perceptions, 2) maintaining e-commerce momentum, 3) stepping up private label, 4) setting up a team to focus on agility and 5) investing in stores. “I’ve spent my career in food retail, and running great stores is how you make that happen,” said the man himself. “It’s about delivering a great experience consistently in every store on every visit, whether shopping in-store or online.” We can only agree.

Next, major supermarket chains in the UK (Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, Sainsbury’s, etc. etc.) are adopting what they are calling the ‘£13 rule’, i.e. increasing staff wages to at least £13 per hour (a notch above the legal minimum wage of £12.71), with many increasing them to the current Real Living Wage of £13.45, as determined by the Living Wage Foundation Charity. Why all this now? Firstly, because the cost-of-living crisis doesn’t seem to be abating, and may well deepen if things don’t improve in the Middle East. Then, some retailers use higher wages to ‘poach’ the best from their competitors, so raising pay will help to keep workers from leaving. And there is also the cost of high staff turnover – hiring and training new people is often more expensive than paying everyone a bit more than the legal minimum. There is some concern that the costs will filter down to food prices on the shelf, but with happier, more motivated staff, the hope is that greater stability will be a better bet than short-term savings.