Leverage AI to enhance the retail customer experience
The holiday shopping season officially kicked off with Black Friday and Cyber Monday recently. And despite the marginal (R157) increase in the average South African online shopping basket value for this year (R1 365), many retailers are optimistic that the November...
Load shedding casts a dark shadow over the festive season for retailers
Record levels of load shedding have sliced an estimated R122-billion off potential South African retail sales in 2022, with retailers expected to ring up R1,24-trillion in sales for the full year. Without frequent rolling blackouts, retail sales would have been...
Hyper personalisation, enhanced CX key to Black Friday campaigns
Despite tough economic conditions, such as surging inflation and the rising cost of living that are forcing consumers to tighten their belts, South African retailers are preparing to cash in on the busiest day of the year for retail sales - Black Friday. By Kabelo...
Helping retailers handle the holiday rush
Every year, Black Friday causes a massive spike in online transactions and online shopping activity. However, Amazon recently announced that they expect the upcoming holiday shopping season to be a little slower than usual. By Nick Durrant, co-founder and MD of...
In a sea of online shopping, retail must prepare for a phishing frenzy
As South African shoppers and retailers prepare for Black Friday and the festive season, cyber criminals are casting increasingly wider - and more sophisticated - nets. Gilchrist Mushwana, director at BDO South Africa and head of cybersecurity service line, discusses...
Convenience stores must automate or be left behind
Convenience retailers looking to stay relevant must improve, streamline, and automate in-store operations to elevate the customer experience. This is according to Andrew Blatherwick, chairman emeritus and advisor at Relex Solutions. Previously, a convenience store's...
Shift to online drives retail transformation
The demise of brick-and-mortar stores has long been talked about, and the idea seemed to gain momentum during the multiple lockdowns that pushed more South Africans toward online shopping. By Heath Huxtable, executive head of Braintree by Vox While the end of physical...
Bring relationships back to main market retail
Digitalisation within the retail space often goes hand-in-hand with disintermediation. While removing the middleman can be beneficial, in the case of the South African main market, it can lead to damaged relationships and a lack of trust between spaza owners and...
How African online retail will grow to the next level
Digital infrastructure in Africa is gaining traction, and more people can shop online than ever before. According to Charl Fouche, chief operating officer of AfriGIS, the question Africa's online retail customers want answered now is: "How do I get my parcel delivered...
Grocery retail trends to watch out for heading into 2023
As retailers head into 2023, the industry must face many challenges, such as keeping stores and warehouses staffed in what many fear is a foundational readjustment in the labour market. With the food industry constantly evolving, the future of grocery retail is at the...
Reducing retail TTV with an expert partner is essential for success
Improving time to value (TTV), the length of time it takes a new customer to realise and extract value from a product or service, has to be a major priority for savvy retailers. Working with an experienced partner can enable the retailer to rapidly get to scale, be...
Economic turbulence: agile retailers turn crisis into profit opportunities
With no sign of the present economic storm subsiding, small and medium-sized retailers need to identify ways to turn today's multiple crises into opportunities for growth. Evolving consumer tastes, new market pain points and emerging technologies all offer compelling...