Customer experience remains key in e-commerce
It is now months into the Covid-19 pandemic and South African consumers are adapting their shopping behaviour with patterns starting to emerge. Locally, we saw a sudden shift to online shopping, in particular the fresh food category at the beginning of lockdown. By...
Why consider automated cash management for peak trading?
South African merchants will ring up billions of rand in sales over the Black Friday period, now second to the festive season as a major event on the annual retail calendar. This brings along with it the annual challenge of storing, securing and depositing large...
How to make Black Friday and Cyber Monday count
We are on the cusp of the festive shopping season, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday kicking off the spending spree in the run up to Christmas and Boxing Day. By Dharshan Naidoo, senior sales manager at Infobip South Africa However, this year's shopping season will...
4IR tech disrupts traditional lay-by system
The traditional lay-by system has long represented an enormous headache for merchants and retailers, marked by high administrative costs and high non-completion rates. But through utilising new technologies, South African digital disruptor LayUp seeks to improve...
Who takes responsibility for shoppers on Black Friday?
This year's Black Friday will be like no other. After all we've never had a Covid-19 situation before. Burt Rodrigues CEO of Biodx and Alan Hirsch, founder and CEO of Hirsch's Homestores, give their insight into shopping this Black Friday. Before you go out and fight...
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 be...
Yoco launches standalone card machine
Yoco, a South African financial platform for small business, has announced the Yoco Neo, the company's 'standalone' card machine which does not require a smart device or bluetooth to enable payments. "This year, with the Covid-related challenges and subsequent...
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 solutions...
Epson debuts two compact mPOS receipt printers
As consumer choice increases and buying habits evolve, the way in which small businesses deal with customers and process transactions has become a vital part of the overall shopping experience. Epson has developed two new additions to its ever-expanding range of...