Retail businesses can boost access to cash flow for Black Friday

This has been an extraordinarily difficult year for most South African retailers, with sales showing year-on-year declines for five consecutive months up to end-August, according to Stats SA. Many of them are hoping for a bumper Black Friday and festive season to set...

Black Friday and the Covid-19 pandemic

Holiday shopping has always brought the year’s best deals, and many shoppers are looking forward to Black Friday specials. However, Covid-19 has cast a dark cloud on the bargains-seeking event, which has gone online. Since many retailers consider Black Friday to...

SA retailers should think differently to leverage Black Friday 2020

The retail cash bonanza that is Black Friday will have to be approached differently this year in view of Covid-19 prevention measures. But retailers that get it right, can end 2020 on a reasonably high note and set themselves up for growth and success. Last year, was...

Real-time analytics vital for retail

Data analytics can be a powerful tool to drive insight to improve productivity, efficiency and profitability. In the retail sector, however, applications have traditionally been somewhat limited by the frequency of data. By Andrew Dawson, MD at Cognizance Typical...

Data science helps retailer improve customer service

HomeChoice Holdings, one of South Africa’s largest home shopping retailers and financing providers, has deployed Oracle Retail planning and optimisation solutions to drive more sales and enhance the customer experience. With integrated data science, retail...

Strategies for rebuilding retail

Successful retailers are changing their approach to smarter operations, the customer experience and inventory management, writes Mark Thomson, EMEA director of retail and hospitality Solutions at Zebra Technologies. In recent years, retailers and grocers have...