Since the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown started in March 2020, few people come to a street that used to overflow with footsteps and chatter. And the informal traders are left without shoppers...
Ashraf Hendricks 5 Feb 2021
Traders who missed the peak tourist season say that despite the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday night that beaches are now open once again, the damage has been done...
Nokulunga Majola 2 Feb 2021
The long-running misconception that the township food economy is insignificant compared to the 'formal' economy, has hampered retail growth in townships in South Africa...
Informal retail micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) across the Eastern and Southern Africa Region (ESAR) are set to receive a technological and operational boost for their businesses, thanks to Nestlé, Nomanini and Standard Bank...
The Department of Small Business Development and Nedbank have called on informal fruit and vegetable traders who were negatively affected by the pandemic to apply for funding...
While many farmers still rely on traditional techniques to coax a living from the land, there are opportunities to use cutting-edge technology to drive Africa towards a food-secure future...
Amrote Abdella 21 Oct 2020
Globally, the fast-moving consumer goods market had to quickly adjust to the challenges that came with conducting a business in a world of social distancing, hand sanitiser and masks...
Andrew Dawson 28 Aug 2020
MegaVision Media has joined forces with their digital partner, the Connect Group, to bridge this gap and bring critical 'on-shelf' information to brands who advertise in the informal retail space, at the click of a button...
Issued by MegaVision Media 24 Jul 2020
Small Business Development Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni says her department has formalised over 2,000 spaza shops during the Covid-19 pandemic...
East African startup Sokowatch has launched an e-voucher scheme to help ensure that essential food and goods are available, free of charge, to vulnerable families...
Standard Bank has partnered with the Small Enterprise Finance Agency to help spaza shops purchase stock through government funding...
Ward councillor urges all business owners in need of help to apply for assistance...
Key Distributors, a business of Value Logistics, is a warehousing and sales company focused on the distribution of FMCG products to formal and informal retail markets in South Africa...
Issued by MegaVision Media 25 May 2020
Spaza shop owner says ban on alcohol and tobacco has cost him R25,000...
Mosa Damane 18 May 2020
Flash has partnered with the DG Murray Trust to launch a R2m electronic food voucher system to approximately 7,000 at-risk households in five food insecure communities...
The Redshift Store Connector was created during the South African lockdown to allow small local retailers like spaza shops to easily set up an online presence and sell directly to their surrounding communities...
The unloved, underinvested world of traditional trade retailing just became the next key battleground for sales-depleted businesses, says Richard Wells...
Richard Wells 21 Apr 2020
The Department of Small Business Development (DSBD) has announced guidelines for participation in the Spaza Shops and General Dealers support scheme...
The Department of Small Business Development has issued directions to assist SMMEs operating grocery stores to comply with lockdown regulations...
Many traders have no savings and without any income they don't know how they will make it through the next 21 days...
Ashraf Hendricks 26 Mar 2020
Small informal retailers are a ubiquitous feature of any developing country's urban landscape. Known as spaza shops in SA, they are an important component in the townships...
Andries du Toit 26 Feb 2020
Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 14% of the world's population and by 2030, the region's population will surpass that of China. The way consumers shop in the region is ever-changing...
Christele Chokossa 8 Jan 2020
R1 of every R5 spent in South Africa takes place at informal spaza or township stores. This makes the informal retail environment a very attractive sector worth approximately R46bn...
Issued by MegaVision Media 6 Dec 2019
A group of social entrepreneurs just emerged from the first Oribi Village Food System Incubation Programme...
Lauren Hartzenberg 19 Nov 2019
Retail solutions company Smollan and product and service design practice DYDX paired up to create a more sustainable solution for the sale of FMCG products in the informal retail market...
Egyptian B2B e-commerce marketplace MaxAB has secured seed funding of $6.2 million, one of the largest ever seed rounds raised by a MENA startup...
According to the UCT Research Institute's latest report, South Africa's "upper middle class" has the potential to make or break brands...
Andrew Weinberg 25 Sep 2019
The private and public sectors must collaborate to reduce the reliance on cash and encourage the use of digital payment methods and financial services to achieve more inclusive and sustainable economic growth...
The City of Cape Town is set to revive Green Point Market, which was relocated to make way for the construction of the Cape Town Stadium and the surrounding Green Point Urban Park...
Standard Bank has gained a stake in Nomanini following an investment of $4m. The bank will be able to use Nomanini's fintech platform to uncover data on the informal retail economy...
MEST Africa continues its commitment to early-stage startups, investing in eleven teams from its 2019 graduating cohort...
Van sales make up a significant proportion of total sales, the success of which is entirely dependent on who gets to the retailer first and how much share of wallet is available at that point...
Andrew Dawson 20 Aug 2019
With a growing young population coupled with rapid urbanisation and fast-growing consumer expenditure, Africa offers attractive opportunities for entities wishing to expand into new frontier markets...
Christy Tawii 31 Jul 2019
Clover has received a buyout offer from the newly-formed consortium called Milco, which has plans to delist the dairy business from the JSE and expand it across sub-Saharan Africa...
Côte d'Ivoire's most extensive shopping and leisure centre sees record footfall in opening weeks...
Informal trade and distribution data company, 5M2T clarifies five common myths about the spaza market...
2018 has been an exciting year for the ConnectGroup - the digital division of MegaVision Media...
Issued by MegaVision Media 16 Oct 2018
5M2T aims to take the guesswork out of doing business in South Africa's dynamic informal sector by providing brands and wholesale distributors with detailed data analysis of informal retail...
The Shopper Insights briefing, set to take place in Johannesburg on 7 November 2018, will unpack the key shopper trends that brands should tap into to get ahead in the retail space...
Owners of small shops in South Africa have been accused of stocking counterfeit food and food that's past its sell-by date...
Jane Battersby and Gareth Haysom 19 Sep 2018
Kenyan B2B e-commerce startup Sokowatch has closed a $2 million seed round to further expand its customer base across East Africa while also piloting additional value-added services for shops...
Tom Jackson 30 Jul 2018
By understanding and working with different levels and spheres of government on, for example, land use, informal retailers and other food security issues, De Visser hopes to promote a more inclusive and just food system in South Africa...
Mologadi Makwela 4 May 2018
Nigerian startup TradeDepot, an innovative SaaS platform for FMCG distribution in Africa, has secured a $3m Series A round led by Partech Ventures' recently launched Africa Fund to expand in Nigeria and launch in other countries...
Tom Jackson 27 Apr 2018
Euromonitor International has just released a Shifting Market Frontiers Megatrend forecast in which it pegs 'Africa Rising' as a megatrend...
Louise Marsland 24 Apr 2018
As dawn breaks, Bonisiwe Zungu puts her charcoal-fired brazier on the pavement of Richmond Road, Pietermaritzburg. She is here to braai and sell mealies...
Nompendulo Ngubane 12 Feb 2018
If you're searching for proof that retail as we know it is changing, look no further than Shanghai's 24-hour, unstaffed, self-driving grocery store...
Lauren Hartzenberg 29 Jan 2018
A CMO roundtable article features marketing perspectives on the challenges to executing omnichannel experiences...
According to Mastercard research, around 96% of transactions are still conducted in cash among South Africa's 1.5 million informal enterprises...
Mastercard is collaborating with Durban-based tech company Spazapp, to bring secure and convenient mobile payments to thousands of informal traders...
The consumer-facing sector has been pivotal to Africa's growth story, with McKinsey & Company estimating it accounted for almost 50% of GDP expansion between 2010 and 2014. Here are some of the latest FMCG trends...
Jaco Maritz 24 Oct 2017