Sunday Times Combined Metros 1 - 30/08/2019 08:12:26 PM...

Sunday Times Combined Metros 1 - 30/08/2019 08:12:26 PM - Plate:


2019

We save our customers money by buying in bulk.

VOTED THE

#1WHOLESALE STORE

AND TOP 5 in Liquor, Electronic and Household Categories.

1O Y

EARS

IN A

ROW


SUNDAY TIMES - September 6 2019 3

Foreword by Eben Gewers

Keeping track of SA’s shoppersand their ever-evolving trends

As human beings, we aretactile, sensory creatures.As shoppers, we like tohold, touch, smell and

examine products. It’s all part of theshopping experience. It’s probablyalso the reason why — despite theconvenience of online shopping —we are still drawn to brick-and-mortar shops and malls. Becausewhile convenience and goodservice (whether online or instore)are essential for today’s time-starved consumer, a good shoppingexperience will keep customerswalking through the doors.

The Sunday Times/SowetanShopper Survey is now 12 years old.Together with our research partner,Kantar, we’ve been monitoringconsumer sentiment towardsretailers to determine those that arefirm favourites in getting thingsright versus those who may bemissing the mark.

The retail industry is extremelycompetitive, as we all know.Surviving in a tough economicclimate — with shrinking margins,high property rental andwarehousing costs, and labourissues — means some things will

need to be prioritised over others, inorder to keep a business buoyant.The ability to balance austerity withcustomer satisfaction is a finetightrope to walk.

As a result, many establishedretailers are finding great benefit inthe efficiencies that can be offeredthrough online retail services. Butexceptional customer servicecontinues to remain imperative.Remember, your competitor is onlyone-click away. Whether yourcustomers are online or strol l i ng

through your aisles, it is up to theretailer to keep them enthralled.Discovering new products, testingthem out, feeling their weight, theirtexture, trying them on for size,picking up their scent on your skin— they all present opportunities forretailers to showcase their wareswith a captive audience, and drivethem to the tills.

Tiso Blackstar remainscommitted to the Sunday TimesSowetan Shopper survey, deliveringmarket research which has becomethe yardstick by which retailersmeasure their impact andrelationships with customers. It’sessential for retailers to understandwhat makes consumers tick, butalso what their competitors may bedoing differently to warrantshopper attention.

Kantar ’s research remainsthorough, with more than 2,750adult respondents over the age of 18years interviewed, in metropolitanand non-metropolitan areas of thecountry. The final results have beenweighted to represent thepopulation according to StatsSA2018 mid-year populationestimates. Interviews wereconducted at home, face-to-face.

Congratulations must go toShoprite for once again winning theGrand Prix as the country’sfavourite retailer. Congrats to all theother award winners who continueto put their best foot forward withtheir customers.

In questioning the marketplaceand finding gaps for innovation, thesurvey continues to deliver marketintelligence for the benefit ofretailers in SA. We’re very proud tobe part of it.

Those who getit right are firmfavou ritesversus thosewho maymiss the mark

Eben Gewers: Head, advertising sales at Tiso Blackstar. Picture: Robert Tshabalala

● 2019 brings the twelfth success-ful year in partnership with KantarSouth Africa for the Sunday TimesRetail Awards.

Once again this year the RetailAwards is a standalone Retail studydue to extended questionnairelength to accommodate more in-depth attribute analysis in all the re-tail categories.

All respondents in both metroand non-metro areas were asked toobtain a national read of all cate-gories and retailers.

The approach looks at a retailer’spenetration in the marketplace,while also examining its relativestrength among its users and its rel-ative attraction among non-users —the concept of relative advantageover its competition.

This was accomplished by askingthree questions:

● Retailer used within a definedtime period (this period differed foreach category);

● Retailers with which peoplewere familiar enough to rate on a 10-point scale; and

● The actual rating of all those re-tailers on a 10-point scale.

From this, an index score for eachretailer is generated from three vari-ables derived from the questionsabove .

These are the actual usage of a re-tailer in a specified time period, therating it receives from its users rela-tive to others in the category and therating it receives from those non-users aware of it — also relative tocompetitors in the category.

The non-user rating carries onlyhalf the weight of the user rating inthe final algorithm.

The final index can be thought ofas the retailer’s standing in both themarket place as well as in people’sheads .

This is in line with the currentthinking that brand equity is a func-tion of both Power in the Mind andPower in the Market, coupled withthe view that one must always takethe attraction of competitors intoaccount in any assessment of brandequ ity.

How a retailer can winA winner occurs in one of three situ-ations :

● If it is big and rated above aver-age by both its users and its non-

users ;● If it is truly big but perhaps only

rated as average by its users andnon-users; and

● It is smaller but very well lovedby its users and is strongly aspired toby its non-users.

Why is this approach moreuseful ?Most retailers have a good sense oftheir relative size – publicising thisis good for the ego but not muchelse .

The approach adopted by Kantarallows more useful marketing in-sights to be gained: a brand can as-sess by how much more — or less —its users rate it compared with aver-age – a heads-up for some, as well asan indication of the relativecommitment people have to abrand .

Similarly, by looking at the non-user ratings, some idea of a brand’srelative “pull ” amongst its non-

users is gained – this is a good indi-cation of its relative ability to attractnew users.

Comparing usership and thesetwo ratings’ data tells marketersmuch about their relative power inthe mind vs their power in the mar-ket .

The sample represents all SAadu ltsThe total sample is 2,750interviews in the metropolitan areasand 752 interviews in non-metropolitan areas of SA.

We talked to adults aged over 18years and the final results have beenweighted to represent the popula-tion according to StatsSA 2018 mid-year population estimates.

The study is representative of alladults across the country and is arelatively large sample in consumerresearch terms.

Face-to-face interviews wereconducted at home.

Methodolog y

Overview of the retail study


4 September 6 2019 - SUNDAY TIMES

Wi n ners

Cash-strapped consumersshop around for good deals

By LYNETTE DICEY

The past year has seen afundamental shift inshopper behaviour as aresult of poor economic

growth, which is negativelyimpacting consumers’ d isp o sableincome .

While monthly shopping remainthe key shopper occasion for mostconsumers, top-ups have shiftedfrom weekly to bi-weekly trips andbasket value, according to a recentNielsen index (Nielsen, SouthAfrican Shoppers ‘drop ’ the basket2018 & EJD, Household AffordabilityIndex 2019), has dropped by nearlyR20, says Grace MacMahon vanEck, senior strategist at 34°, a retailand shopper marketing specialistage n cy.

This shift in shopping behaviour,she says, is giving consumers morepower. “While shoppers make in-store purchasing decisions, productchoice is strongly influenced byhousehold members.”

Shoppers are making trade-offsbetween category products, tradingdown, and shopping around for thebest deal. “For many consumers, it’sbecome commonplace to go toCheckers to get their meat, Pick nPay to stock up on cleaningproducts, and Shoprite for frozengoods — the grocery cupboard isbeing filled with items from

different stores. But as shoppersshop around, they are also puttingmore private-label items into theirbaskets, which is driving rapidgrowth and product line expansionfor the country’s biggest retailers.”

What does this mean for brands?As shoppers search for quality andsavings, says Van Eck, value is moreimportant than ever.

This year’s Sunday Times/Sowetan Shopper Survey deliveredfew surprises, indicating thatconsumers largely tend to remainloyal to their favourite retail outlets,particularly those that offerperceived value for money.

In a number of categories, lastyear ’s number one and two retailersswitched places in the 2019 survey:in the jewellery stores category

American Swiss clinched the topspot with Sterns in second position.Last year their positions werereversed .

There was a similar positionreversal in the telecommunicationsstores category with Pepcell thisyear moving into first position andVodacom Store, last year’s winnerin this category, moving down intosecond .

In the entertainment, music andbook stores category, Musica andCNA swopped positions, withMusica moving into the topposition .

In the shoe stores category,Woolworths and Edgars haveswitched first and second position.Woolworths has performed well inthis year’s survey, taking the

number one position in both theshoe stores category and kids andbaby clothing stores category, andonce again coming second in thewomen ’s clothing category behindMr Price.

The women’s clothing categoryin SA is a competitive sector with anumber of players all vying for ashare of consumer’s increasinglyconstrained wallets. Expectationsare that consumers will continue tobe under pressure as a result of loweconomic growth.

Mr Price, which last year camethird in the women’s clothingcategory, took the top spot fromEdgars, which has been pushed intothird position this year. Mr Price isbenefiting from correcting itsmerchandising issues and an

expanded store footprint. This yearMr Price plans to open an additional48 stores.

The men’s clothing category sawsignificant changes with Markham,Truworths and Edgars taking thetop three spots, pushingWoolworths into fourth. In 2018Edgars, Woolworths and Markhamtook the top three spots. Markhamand Truworths are the retailers towatch in this category.

A number of categories werelargely unchanged from last year. Inthe highly competitive grocerycategory Shoprite once again tooktop honours, with Pick n Pay insecond position. Grocery retailerssuch as Shoprite, which positionthemselves on a lower priceoffering, are particularly appealingto cash-strapped consumers.

In the electronics and householdappliance stores category Gameonce again took the top spot,followed by Clicks and Makro. Inthe hardware stores categoryCashbuild retained its leadingposition, followed by Build it.

The rankings were alsounchanged in the sports andoutdoor stores category, withTotalsports retaining its numberone position followed bySportscene .

Not surprisingly, Makro onceagain clinched the top spot in thewholesalers category. Wholesaleretailers in SA, particularly thoseselling big-ticket items like Makrodoes, have been under pressure inrecent years as a result of theeconomic downturn. Servicing bothwholesale and retail customers,Makro ’s value offerings continue toappeal to consumers. Its BlackFriday deals are particularlypopular with shoppers. MakroLiquor, which came fourth in theliquor and bottle store category,along with the wholesaler’simpressive offering of children’stoys as well as grocery items,continues to be a popular retaildestination for consumers eager totake advantage of good deals.

In the tyre and auto fitmentcentres category Tiger Wheels &Tyre retained its top position, butthis year Hi-Q took the secondposition from Supaquick, pushingthe latter into third.

Woolies winsboth the shoestores categoryand kids andbaby clothingstores category

Woolworths in Rosebank, Johannesburg. Picture: Robert Tshabalala 26/05/06 Copyright FM

THE KIDS HAVE SPOKEN.Get Makro’s 2019 Festive Toys Guide, available from 6 October, to find out which toys kids voted as the BestTest around.

RATED BYK DI S

makro.co.za



Liquor and bottle stores

Spar ’s Tops stilltops for a tipple

By SAMANTHA du CHENNE

The liquor and bottle storescategory of the SundayTimes/Sowetan ShopperSurvey saw little changes

in the top four brands from lastyear: it was Tops at Spar in firstposition, followed by ShopriteLiquor Shop, Pick n Pay Liquor andMakro Liquor.

It is perhaps no surprise thatliquor retail outlets have evolvedsignificantly in recent years withthe addition of grocery brand liquor

outlets operating adjacent tosupermarkets — offering shoppers amore efficient shopping experience.Most liquor retailers have an onlineshopping option for customers.

Tops at Spar, which waslaunched 17 years ago in response toa call for a more women-friendlyliquor shopping environment, hasgrown from an initial 16 stores to anational and international networkof more than 800. It retains thebiggest share of the convenienceliquor market, according to groupliquor manager, Mark Robinson. Heattributes this to a clean, friendlyand convenient shoppingexperience .

The first LiquorShop, theShoprite Group’s chain of stand-alone liquor outlets, was opened in2005. It recently opened its 500thstore, of which 295 are Shopritebranded. Shoprite’s generalmanager for marketing, WilliePeters, says the fact that

LiquorShop is built on the sameprinciples as the Shopritesupermarket brand resonates withcustomers and ensures it’s a trustedbrand .

LiquorShop sales have beenconsistent over the past couple ofyears, Peters says: “Our LiquorShopmarketing strategies are builtaround the same principles as thesupermarket mother brand —delivering on our low price promiseto customers and providing realvalue for money. It is core brandprinciples .”

Proof of LiquorShop’s success isin the multiple private-label awards

the retailer has won. Seven of itsprivate-label products won awardsat the recent 2019 Old MutualTrophy Spirits show. A growingnumber of LiquorShops are nowoffering click and collect services inaddition to deliveries by Mr D Food.

In late 2018 Checkers — also partof the Shoprite group — an nou nceda partnership with Mr D Food,which allows customers to orderand have alcohol — at regularCheckers Liquor Shop retail prices— delivered to their doorstep.

Pick n Pay Liquor, whichoperates 241 company-ownedoutlets and 226 franchise outlets,

reported strong growth in itsstandalone liquor stores in the pastyear, adding 25 new outlets. Itsliquor outlets are all situated closeto its supermarkets andhypermarkets but with separateentrances. The largest onlinegrocery retailer in SA, it also offersliquor sales online with deliveryguaranteed in 24 hours.

Makro ’s Liquor outlets, situatedadjacent to its main Makro stores,cater to both retail and wholesalecustomers. The wholesaler is seeinggood growth in its online sales as itcontinues to appeal to consumerslooking for the lowest prices.

Clean, friendlyshoppi ngexp erienceequals biggestmarket share

Tops hasremained at thetop of the gameafter respondingto a call for amore women-friendly liquorshoppingenvironment inSA which saw itgrow from aninitial 16 storesto a national andinternationalnetwork of morethan 800.

2019



Entertainment, music and book stores

Musica prevails amidfewer stores, streaming

By SAMANTHA du CHENNE

One of the surprises of thesurvey was the fact thatMusica came out tops inthe entertainment,

music and book stores category,despite a reduced store footprint.This continues to be a challengingcategory with many retailers in thissector amid changing consumerhabits .

Musica, which retains themajority of the country’s CDmarket, has been impacted bydeclining sales of CDs as consumers

increasingly download their musiconline. Part of the Clicks Group, inthe past year Musica has reduced itsphysical footprint from 112 stores to104 stores as it continues to struggleto reinvent itself.

The Musica brand, says financeexecutive Gustav Schoeman,continues to strategically diversifyits product offerings, which can be

seen with Musica’s best brands andwide ranges across a variety oftechnology, gaming and accessoriesproducts offered in stores. Its fullproduct range is available online.

Schoeman adds that the ClicksClubCard loyalty programme,which offers members exclusiveentry to competitions, special offersand promotions, remains an

important contributor to Musica’ssales .

CNA, part of the Edcon group,came in second in this category. Thebrand, which consists of 168 storescountrywide, has embarked on afive-year growth plan focused onsmaller store and shop sizes inconvenient locations to better servecustomers, says CNA MD Julie Day.

“Stationery, encompassing ‘ki l lercategories ’ dominates in our storeswith a full spectrum of stationeryacross scholastic, home office andfashionable on-trend items. Inaddition, there is a renewed focuson arts and crafts ranges,” she says.

Its secondary strategic focus iseducation. “While CNA dominatesthe market in terms of study guides,we ’re working on a comprehensivechildhood educationaldevelopment range across thevarious life and learning stages ofchildren with the involvement ofoccupational therapists and othersubject-matter experts in theindustry, ” says Day. The retailer’srenewed strategic focus wa sreflected in positive resultsachieved in the first quarter of 2019.

S A’s largest bookselling chain,Exclusive Books, continues to be afavourite retailer among booklovers. With more than 40 storescountrywide, it recently openednew stores in the Mall of Africa andFourways Mall in Gauteng with afurther store opening planned for

Windhoek, Namibia.The bookseller has reignited its

partnership with Seattle, feedingthe growing desire for qualitycoffees among its customers as itcontinuously explores ways todeliver more value to customers.

New CEO Grattan Kirk has beentasked with making ExclusiveBooks profitable once again. SA’sbook market is notoriously small: ifa bestseller sells 20,000 copies,that ’s deemed excellent. Book salesin the UK grew 2.1% in value and0.3% in value in 2018, helped in partby Michelle Obama’s book,Becoming , which sold more than500,000 copies in less than twomonths .

Surprise winnerin challengingcategory withm anycomp etitors

Julie Day: MD, CNA

Musica is a favourite entertainment retailer for shoppers



Gro cery

Shoprite does it again in ahighly competitive sector

By LYNETTE DICEY

The grocery retail sector inSA is a highly competitiveone, particularly given thetough economic

environment which is playing alarge part in influencing whereconsumers shop. Many groceryretailers are capitalising on thistrend with special offers, makingshoppers less brand loyal than ever.

Bearing in mind that loyaltybased on price is unlikely to bepermanent, grocery retailers arecognisant of the fact that they needto continue to provide positiveshopping experiences. Most haveintroduced some form of loyaltyrewards programme in order toattract customers, arguably themost successful of these is Pick nPay ’s SmartShopper programme.

Shoprite, which once again tookpole position in the grocerycategory of the Shopper Survey, haslong positioned itself as Africa’smost accessible retailer, providingconsumers with affordable,nutritious and quality food.

The group has managed to keepits selling-price inflation capped at1.2%, the same as the previous year.In order to remain an attractivevalue proposition for customers, ithas deflated many items in key

categories, ultimately ensuring thata surprising number of productswere priced lower than the previousyear. As the largest supermarketchain in Africa, Shoprite has thecritical mass to offer better prices,something cash-strappedconsumers clearly appreciate.

What gives the brand its edgewith consumers, says Willie Peters,general manager for marketing, isthe fact that it consistently deliverson its low-price promise tocustomers. “It ’s more than just amarketing pay-off line. It is acommitment we live by every day

Positioning itselfas Africa’s mostacces sibleretailer continuesto pay off

and which is integral to everythingwe do.”

Its footprint extends beyond SAto include 14 African countries.Shoprite has faced challengesbeyond SA’s borders including forexshortages, currency devaluationsand rampant inflation in Angola.

The retailer says it has faced a‘‘testing year’’. Its earnings for theyear ending June 2019 were down18.2%. Shoprite’s local supermarketdivision, however, performed well,though overall sales have declinedas a result of a constrainedeconomy, inventory shortages afterindustrial action and theimplementation of a new IT system.

Pick n Pay once again came insecond in this category. Despite achallenging trading environment,the retailer has increased turnoverby 7.1%. Its clothing, liquor andonline divisions are all performingwell. Pick n Pay continues to investin winning over customers throughlower prices, more attractivepromotions, value-added servicesand more modern stores. However,like Shoprite, Pick n Pay has had tocontend with selling-pricedeflation .

Spar ’s emphasis on convenientlocations, ensuring it has everyproduct in stock and getting thebasics right, is paying off. Theretailer was voted the second-bestsupermarket — after Woolworths —in the most recent SA CustomerSatisfaction Index (SAcsi).

Checkers, also part of theShoprite Group, is the groceryretailer to watch as the groupimplements a repositioning strategyaimed at capturing a greater shareof the premium food segment.Checkers is starting to benefit fromthe revamp of some of its stores inan attempt to appeal to a higherLSM market. More than 20 existingCheckers stores have already beenupgraded and plans are in place toupgrade an additional 80 stores.

Woolworths, which this yearcame in fifth in the Shopper Survey,has long traded on its reputation foroffering the best customerexperience of all grocery retailers inSA. A number of competitors,including Spar and Checkers,however, are starting to encroachon this space as they too improvethe in-store shopping experienceand upgrade their packaging,offering customer’s perceivedequivalent value but at moreaffordable prices.

Shoprite remains a favourite grocery outlet for SA consumers. Picture: Jeremy Glyn

Loyalty programmes

An extra currency for shoppersBy LYNETTE DICEY

As value becomes moreimportant than ever andshoppers search forsavings — ideally without

having to sacrifice quality — l oyal typrogrammes are becomingincreasingly prevalent.

The average South Africanbelongs to no less than nineprogrammes, according to researchby consultancy, Eighty20.

Retailers leverage their loyaltyprogrammes to give customersgreater perceived value at timeswhen consumers are more price-sensitive, says CEO and head ofanalytics at Eigthy20, SteveBurnstone .

“A loyalty or rewards programmeis built on the assumption thatcustomer behaviour will be

positively impacted with the cost ofrewards offset by the incrementalprofit due to the change in customerbehaviour. In other words, if therewards are based on discounts ofexisting products, the cost to thecompany of the rewards are reducedby the profit margin of the goodsbeing discounted,” he explains.

Some programmes are moresuccessful than others. Those thatfail, says Burnstone, do so becausefrom a customer perspective therewards are not worth the effort orare not relevant to customers; theprogramme lacks innovation andevolution; the company fails toadequately communicate or marketthe programme; it offers onlylimited earning options; there is alack of personalised offers andrewards; it’s difficult to use orunderstand; or there is a

misalignment between the brand,product or service.

Currently, most programmesreward customers for certainbehaviours, utilising a push strategy.Rob Anderson, founder and CEO ofdigital rewards company BrandHubb, believes the future of thereward landscape will be focused onless intrusive pull-strategies thatreward consumers for voluntarilyengaging with brand content.

Brand Hubb, which wasestablished in 2016, is premised onthe idea of shifting power back intothe hands of consumers andadequately rewarding them forsharing their data. As such itrewards consumers who register onits website and voluntarily engagewith its clients’ brand contentthrough a digital currency calledMeBucks, which can be spent on the

platform ’s integrated BrandShop.Clicking, watching, sharing

content as well as completingsurveys are all seen as a form ofengagement and, depending onwhat a particular brand hasallocated, any of these engagementscan be met with a MeBucks reward.One MeBuck equates to R1, ensuringstraightforward reward calculations.A number of trusted brands inclu-ding Apple, Adidas and Coca-Colahave already signed up with theBrand Hubb platform.

Two of the most successfulloyalty and reward programmeslocally are Pick n Pay’s SmartShopper and Clicks’ Club Card , bothof which regularly top the rankingsof SA’s most popular retail rewardsprogrammes .

Smart Shopper, launched by Pickn Pay in 2011, has more than

7-million active members.The programme is increasingly

offering more personaliseddiscounts, which has resulted in asignificant increase in customerredemptions .

Last year the retailer launchedthe Smart Shopper Stokvel card,which caters specifically for stokvelgroups saving for groceries,providing all the same benefits asthe Smart Shopper, as well asadditional grocery and productpromotions .

The Clicks ClubCardprogramme, the first retail loyaltyprogramme to be introduced in SA,is the largest loyalty programme inthe country with more than7.5-million active members.

Free to join with no monthlymembership fees, its biggestdifferentiator is its ease of use.



Health & beauty

Clicks remains a firmfavourite with shoppers

By LYNETTE DICEY

A perennial favourite in theSunday Times/SowetanShopper Survey is Clicks,which has once again

won both the Health & Beautycategory and the pharmaceuticalcategory. Dischem is in secondplace in both categories.

Clicks, which was establishedmore than 50 years ago in CapeTown, has long used its valueproposition to differentiate itself.Cognisant of the fact that consumer

spend is under pressure, Clicks hasfocused on attracting customersthrough regular great deals and hascontinued to invest in advertisingand marketing. As a result the grouphas grown its market share,expanded its margins and continuesto generate strong cash flows.

In the past year the groupreported that turnover was up 6.2%while health and beauty sales hadgrown by 8.5%, with good volumegrowth and market share gainsacross most product categories.Competitive pricing and appealingpromotions have played a

significant part in this growth.Clicks ’ 3 for 2 promotions have

become synonymous with thebrand as has its hugely successfulloyalty programme, the ClicksClubCard reward programme,which was the first loyalty rewardsprogramme introduced in SA.

According to Truth, a specialistcustomer centricity and loyaltyprogramme developmentconsultancy, Clicks ClubCard is themost popular loyalty programme inSA, followed by Pick n Pay’s SmartShopper and Dischem’s Benefitprogramme .

With more than 7.5-millionactive members, ClubCard hasgrown to be the leading retailloyalty programme in SA. RachelWrigglesworth, chief commercialofficer at Clicks, says the beautycategory lends itself to rewardsincluding early access to newproducts and interactive beautyevents. The Clicks ClubCard is freeto join, easy to participate in andrewards are uncomplicated andeasily understood. “The rewards arestraightforward and don’t changeoften. The result is that customersunderstand it and trust it. The keyto the programme is end-to-endsimplicity. ”

Clicks has partnered with Shell,Discovery Healthcare, Sorbet, The

Body Shop, Musica, SpecSavers &Execuspecs, City Lodge HotelGroup, Europcar and Netflorist toprovide ClubCard members withadditional opportunities to earnpoints .

ClubCard members earn onepoint for every R5 spent in storewith each point equating to 10c.Members qualify for a cashbackreward which is paid every twomonths directly into their ClubCard.

Clicks ’ orgins were inspired bythe US drugstore model. The firstClicks pharmacy opened in 2004and soon changed the face of theretail pharmacy sector in SA.

By February 2019 Clicks boasteda pharmacy network of 528 storesand has a 23.8% share of the retailpharmacy network. Despite a toughtrading environment andconstrained consumer spend,Clicks currently offers the largestpharmacy chain in SA.

The group continues to expandits store footprint, which at the endof February 2019 stood at 680. Atotal of 41 new stores are plannedfor the current financial year.

An online shopping option wasintroduced in 2016. The online storeis currently the chain’s fastest-growing store. Clicks’ val u eproposition appears to be paying offfor both the group and consumers.

ClubCard, with7.5m members, isthe leadingl oyal typrogramme in SA

Clicks’s exclusive promotions have bagged it the top honours once more.

for voting PEPcell as the Top Cellular

Store in 2019!

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Tots & infant apparel

Little ones do itagain for Woolies

By ASHA SPECKMAN

Amid rising petrol,electricity and watercosts, SA’s brand-conscious consumers still

favour pricier outlets to shop forbaby and children’s clothing.

Luxury retailer Woolworths hasemerged as the preferred brand fortots and infant apparel for thesecond consecutive year in theSunday Times/Sowetan ShopperSu rvey.

The company said it had realised

significant growth in children’swear and baby clothing over thepast year across all age groups.

“The biggest contributiontowards our growth comes from theimprovement in our productassortments and execution of our

products. We are focussed onoffering our customers great qualityat value.”

This follows a period in whichthe company’s fashion, beauty andhome division sales had seen somerebound following a disastrousperiod last year, although analystsbelieve the recovery may betemp orary.

Casparus Treurnicht, portfoliomanager at Gryphon AssetManagement said: “They lost somuch market share last year that byresetting some of their clothinglines and at least just falling back inline with competitor styles theycould prevent a further slide.”

The company said its strategyremained unchanged. “We arecautiously optimistic that ourgrowth will continue andwe are confident withour productassortments . ”

But while in terms offinancial performancethe clothing division hadstuttered slightly, thebrand equity remained

strong as its dominance atop theindex showed.

Rubab Abdoolla, senior researchanalyst at Euromonitor said:“Consumers associate brands suchas Woolworths withquality and are morelikely to spend on itemsthat are going to be usedfor longer, for examplepurchasing a jacket for arelatively older child thatwill not grow out of theclothing quickly.”

But there are somesurprise developments in the pollthis year as last year’s favourites —Cotton Kids and Foschini — we reknocked off the top 10 on the babyand children’s clothing index.

Instead, homegrown children’sclothing brand Keedo and budgetretailer Pep have climbed into theranks of crème de le crème in theapparel for minors.

The shifting trends have notsurprised some analysts.

Abdoolla said: “Th eunderlying trend is thefact that consumersare seeking value inthis difficult consumerenvironment. As aresult affordable andtrendy brands werebeginning to overtake

higher priced brands."But that only meant

that parents weretaking a more cautiousapproach withspending and wereunlikely to dumpmore expensivechildren ’s clothing.

Smaller family units andimproved household incomegenerated more to spend amongsome middle- and high-incomeearners who have begun to be “onthe lookout for stylish and uniqueclothing items,” Abdoolla said.

In this area, retailers such asNaartjie and Earthchild, which werelisted at fourth and ninthrespectively on the index, havegained a foothold.

The refined taste of theseconsumers see them procureclothing made from 100% organiccotton and ethically sourced.

But for a “wide majority of thepopulation, given the currenteconomic situation, affordabilityremains a key purchasing factor,”she added.

Growth in sectorcomes fromassortment andexecution inpro ducts

Woolworths children’s wear is apopular brand for shoppers.

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