Archive for year: 2018

Article from BizCommunity

Edgars, the 90-year old South African clothing brand is back on the fashion radar. The once aspirational icon of the local fashion industry, has had some well-publicised ups and downs over the past few years, but new leadership and a fresh approach to customer engagement has seen a complete turn-around for the brand, making it relevant to local shoppers all over again.

VML South Africa has been integrally involved in the creative relaunch of Edgars – from designing the new logo and evocative adverts to developing a fully integrated brand connection between Edgars and its customers, both current and new.

It’s all about a renewed focus on the celebration of self-expression, inspired by South African trendsetters, culture creators and custodians, who are admired by hundreds of thousands of South Africans regardless of age, culture or race. And now the new Edgars story puts real South Africans at the centre of its narrative.

Ryan McManus, chief creative officer at VML South Africa, gives five important facts about how a new feel for an old brand is going to create renewed excitement.

1. What is a connected brand?
A brand is not just a logo or a clever and well-crafted advert. A connected brand ensures that where ever its customers find it, it offers a consistent application of look and feel and emotion, whether in-store, through advertising or digital channels like a website or social media. Being connected to your customers is really the only way for a brand to succeed in this day and age, because consumers are clever and connected and demanding of consistent quality experiences, and if a brand can’t deliver on this, it’s failing.

2. So how has this played out for Edgars
We’ve refreshed the logo, and designed new-look stores, with the flagships already running in major centres – shoppers can expect an exciting in-store experience, from window display to the check-out. The concept spans fashion, beauty and home stores. We’ve also created an advertising campaign inspired by:

• What does South Africa look like from a style perspective
• How South Africans express themselves through their wardrobe, makeup and home environments
• How the brand can inspire self-expression from its customers

The most exciting part of the campaign is that we’re working with well-known local personalities across all communication touch points. But instead of having influencers endorse the brand (which is the typical influencer marketing model), we’ve shifted the focus to endorsing and collaborating with local trendsetters like:

• Sho Madjozi (dynamic rapper, writer, actress and fashion icon)
• DJ Arch Junior of South Africa’s Got Talent fame
• Siphokazi Veti (writer and female activist)
• Jonathan Boynton-Lee (Top Billing presenter)
• Kay Ngonyama and Jessica van Heerden (online make-up mavens)

The collaboration takes Edgars and its products into the lives and homes of all South Africans, making it clear that everyone can and should #ownthelook by making the most of the cool content available in all of Edgars’ range of stores.

3. What attracted you to the brief?
Edgars is one of those truly iconic South African brands that has changed and evolved over the years and we had the opportunity to go back to its origins to celebrate its unique South African-ness and reconnect with customers throughout their brand journey.

Edgars is an important client for us as they’ve always worked with Y&R, and in early 2018 when Y&R, Native VML, Labstore and Native Media merged to create the fully integrated company we are today, it gave us the perfect opportunity to showcase our integrated approach to brand strategy, including above-the-line, below-the-line, shopper and digital experiences that create that true connected brand experience.

4. Beside the store experience, how do South Africans get the feel for the new Edgars?
All of our brand custodians are talking about how they use Edgars’ products on their various social channels, blogs, shows, etc.

The above the line campaign is live and can be viewed online here:

And anyone who knows Sho Madjozi (and she has hundreds of thousands of South Africans fans) would know that her latest release, Don’t Tell Me What To Do, was written to support the Edgars campaign, and is the track used in all TV adverts. She has also launched a new clothing range available only in Edgars stores.

5. So what is your 5-second pitch?
At VML South Africa, we understand the fundamental human need for connection and know how to help brands re-imagine the entire connected consumer experience by inspiring connections at every touchpoint.

Article by Lauren Hartzenberg

The platform, which officially launches today, offers a single URL to access products from the 17 TFG brands currently trading online, including @home, Donna, Foschini, Markham and Totalsports. Interestingly, myTFGworld.com also houses affiliate brands not within the TFG stable including bookstore Readers’ Warehouse, French gift chain Pylones, toy store Hamley’s, and flower and gifting service Bloomable.

TFG aims to have at least 40 affiliate brands on the marketplace by 2020 financial year end, to supplement gaps in their own offering. Planned product categories include travel, gifting, toys, books, food, education, décor, pets, babies, data, ticketing, streaming and drones, amongst others.

With the launch of its multibrand online marketplace, TFG boldly states that its no longer competing with the single retail brand sites of their competitors but is taking on global marketplaces, and preparing for the entry of giants like Amazon into the local market. myTFGworld is South Africa’s first online marketplace supported by over 2,600 physical stores.

“Much of what TFG owns is homegrown. This factor has been shown, particularly in Amazon’s evolution, to be important to success in e-commerce. Retailers with homegrown brands have higher margins, more control, and a better customer interface. The majority of what we sell is manufactured and controlled locally, so has the added benefit of local job creation,” says TFG CIO Brent Curry.

TFG CIO Brent Curry

The shopper experience of myTFGworld is slanted towards women, who make up the bulk of TFG’s online shoppers. According to the company, the platform has been designed to offer a curated story-driven space with a more modern experiential interface than a tactical ‘hunt and shoot’ online store. There are also experiences to bring customers back daily, including daily recipes, weather forecasts and playlists.

Here, Curry shares with Bizcommunity the strategy behind TFG’s refreshed online presence.

The move to include brands outside of the TFG stable is an unexpected one. What’s the strategy behind this?

If we are truly customer-centric, we cannot get precious about what goods and services we offer on our platform, we must give our customers breadth and depth in selection.

So our intention is to supplement gaps in our product offering through the additional affiliate brands. As a truly customer-centric platform, we place emphasis on ensuring the goods and services we offer provide customers with a one-stop-shop experience. We have to make shopping on myTFGworld.com as convenient as possible and the best way to do that is to provide as much as possible in one checkout.

We have launched the marketplace with 5 affiliates, but our customers will see these partnerships grow rapidly. We aim to have at least 40 affiliate brands on the marketplace by 2020 financial year end. These will cover diverse categories including travel, gifting, toys, books, flowers, food, meals, education, décor, pets, babies, data, ticketing, streaming and drones, amongst many others.

Shoppers can expect to find Quench and Drone World soon.

Are there any commonalities in the affiliate brands that TFG aims to stock on the myTFGworld platform?

The affiliate brands are relevant to that target audience. We strive to be inclusive of all consumers, but our primary audience is mid to higher LSM women over 35 years old. They do most of the shopping online in SA.

And in a technical sense, how are you achieving this?

When a customer visits myTFGworld.com, they are prompted by a series of stories. For example: Shop our Top Picks of Palazzo Pants; Shop the Best Slogan Tees; Teach Me Tuesday; Don’t Cover Up, Contour Your Curves; Momma You Got This; Vegan-friendly Shopping.

These stories draw shoppers into a space based on their interests, Once inside, the products are beautifully curated across multiple brands relevant to that theme. This narrative style enables us to tailor the shopping experience, as well as inspire and inform our shoppers.

#MobileCommerce: The rise of mobile shopping and its impact on business

While retailers need to be geared for mobile, it is only a part of the shopping journey in South Africa. Omnichannel is where it is at…

By Robyn Cooke 2 Jul 2018

How does the design of the site cater to women?

It is designed to be as convenient as possible, as that is what our women shoppers want and need more than anything – seamless shopping in their over-busy day.

With multiple ways to pay, multiple deliver options, product curated into spaces around themes that relate to their interests whether that is office, family, fashion, entertainment, beauty, friends, travel, decor, technology or sneakers – and in many cases all of those things within a day.

The personality of the site is Sassy Older Sister – she’s vibrant, has a great sense of humour and knows how to fix a fashion faux pas in a flash. Her message to her sisters is: Queen, you’ve got this!

With online retail still a nascent industry in South Africa, how can brands encourage otherwise brick-and-mortar shoppers to purchase online, and do so confidently?

It’s not a case of choosing online or offline stores, the two work best together. The greatest barriers to shopping online for many South Africans are 1) safety and security; 2) not having a credit card; 3) not having someone at home to receive parcels.

The online stores and bricks stores work well together. The bricks presence lends credibility to the online environment and make people feel safer shopping online. Also, online shoppers feel comforted knowing they can go into a store and view a product before shopping online and having it delivered to their door; or being able to take it back and exchange it at a store if it is not quite right.

Also, many people can’t receive parcels at home or work, but they can order online after hours and have a product delivered to another TFG bricks store and then collect that online order at a time that suits them.

Accessibility is key. By allowing our customers to use store account cards or instant EFT to pay, we have opened up online shopping to far more potential customers. myTFGworld now offers 5 ways to pay: any TFG store cards, TFG eGift cards, credit cards, SnapScan and EFT. Online shoppers can also earn and redeem online vouchers and rewards.

The democratisation of online shopping is important to the success of ecommerce in South Africa. By not limiting South Africans to one type of delivery method, we give access to people who could not previously shop online.

Delivery options include: Deliver to your door, Collect from depot, Collect in Store, Pargo pick up, Deliver to Me (this is a geo-location service) and we have additional methods coming soon.

We are also inclusive through the product we offer. This year we added body positivity brand Donna to our online platform. Donna is a brand that celebrates curves. Donna offers stylish fashion to women from size 14 to 32. Donna’s focus is on making fashion that is perfected by South African curves. This addition has been a resounding success for us.

Retail and etail to work as a team not the opposition

In South Africa, going to a mall is part of our culture – particularly in Johannesburg where there seems to be a mall on every street corner. Malls entertain visitors with restaurants and coffee shops…

By Julia Ahlfeldt 23 Oct 2018

What would you say are the challenges and opportunities associated with launching a multibrand marketplace like myTFGworld?

The challenges:
• The competitive landscape is intense for marketplaces and customers are used to shopping in a very specific way – the Amazon effect.
• SA continues to suffer socio-economic volatility in retail, including VAT increases and petrol prices.
• The SA take-up of online shopping, whilst growing nicely, has been slower than expected.
• The costs of internet and data in SA are high.

The opportunities:
• It’s shopping plus experiences, life-hacks, daily recipes, etc.
• Capturing new shoppers through the diversity of product we offer, all available in one place.
• Providing greater convenience for our core target audience who are the people who do the most shopping: mid to high LSM +35 women. Most brands target youth shoppers, and overlook the needs of the older shopper.
• Growing greater awareness for our e-commerce presence through a single url and online brand, which carries multiple brands.
• Grow online shopping in South Africa, by making it as easy and convenient as possible.

What is the long-term vision for myTFGworld?

To be a very large player in the online space, so when you think online shopping you think myTFGworld.

Article from BizCommunity

Woolworths has announced that it is launching a new in-store reusable bag trial.

The trial aims to test whether, given a choice of a more affordable reusable bag, consumers will make the shift away from buying single-use plastic shopping bags.

Starting on 5 November 2018, these new, entry-level, reusable shopping bags will be made available in four stores across the Western Cape (V&A Waterfront, Palmyra, Pinelands and Steenberg). Significantly one store, Woolworths Steenberg, will be completely plastic bag free for the duration of the trial, with customers having the choice of either purchasing a reusable bag or bringing their own bags. In the remaining three stores, the current single-use plastic bags will still be available.

Zero packaging waste to landfill

In June, Woolworths communicated its vision of achieving zero packaging waste to landfill and its commitment that all of its packaging will be recyclable or reusable by 2022. This is an ambitious target as most international retailers and producers with a similar commitment have set their sights on 2025.

“This reusable bag trial is an opportunity for us to gauge customer reaction, feedback and input that will inform the greater phasing out of single-use plastics,” says Feroz Koor, Woolworths Holdings group head of sustainability. “There is a wide range of views and different levels of awareness of the issues which need to be understood so that we can take this journey to zero waste to landfill hand-in-hand with all our customers.”

While many Woolies customers give voice to their own plastic pollution concerns, South Africans, like the rest of the world, have been relatively slow to transform to the more environmentally-friendly reusable options. Research has shown that the lightweight plastic bag levy introduced in 2003 has not curbed the country’s plastic shopping bag consumption.

Helping consumers choose reusable bags

When you consider that Woolworths currently sells about 140 million plastic bags a year, which is between six to seven tonnes of plastic, helping consumers choose reusable bags will make a significant impact on reducing plastic waste.

The new R5.50 reusable, recyclable shopping bag is locally-made from recycled materials by Isikwama, Woolworths long-standing black enterprise development supplier, which has grown into a 100-employee strong organisation over the past eight years.

Woolworths Steenberg, surrounded by the natural beauty of the Cape Town southern suburbs, is ideal to test consumer reaction to the ultimate phasing out of single-use plastics.

“There’s an opportunity here for the Woolies Steenberg to play an important role by engaging with customers in a close-knit, eco-friendly community, gathering their views and having real conversations,” says Koor. “As South Africans, we ultimately all want the same thing – a more sustainable country that protects its extraordinary natural heritage in our lifetimes, and for future generations.”

Written by: Harleen Sahni

“Sustainable development” has become a buzzword in the present times due to the emergence of various social & environmental concerns. Increasing pollution from vehicles and industrial units, deforestation, excessive use of chemicals, plastic, metals and other non-biodegradable material, expanding landfill sites are leaving devastating impacts on the environment. Extensive use of natural resources and superfluous production & use of man-made articles along with tremendous waste generation is adversely effecting the environment. This has intensified the need to minimize the environmental damages and make the earth a better place to live not only for the present generations but also for the future generations to come.

To “Sustain” means “to maintain” or “to up hold”. Sustainability is a wide-ranging term. It’s important dimensions are

Environmental Sustainability – Environmental sustainability is the ability to maintain the valued qualities of the physical environment. It refers to preservation of the environment & natural resources.

Social Sustainability – Social sustainability is one important aspect of sustainable development. Social sustainability encompasses human rights, labor rights, and corporate governance. For a society to be functional & sustainable, the basic needs of the members must be met.

Economic Sustainability – Economic sustainability is about achieving economic growth along with ensuring the improvement in quality of life and the environment.

The Sustainability concern is applicable to all areas of human activity such as computing, design, manufacture, architecture, transportation, agriculture, to name a few.

The term “Sustainability” is being discussed for almost a decade now but its explicit and all-round intervention in the field of Fashion is a recent one. Its relevance in the Fashion industry is because of the highly unsustainable nature of this industry. Fashion Industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world. It is the second largest water-consumer of all the industries of the world. Trends like global operations, fast fashion, increasing disposable incomes, increasing consumerism are intensifying the social & environmental concerns with respect to the fashion industry. An interesting area of research is to emancipate the role of technology integration in the fashion industry and its contribution in the emergence of an ethical and green fashion value-chain.

Some pertinent researches and distinctive initiatives in this field have enabled the evolution of specialized disciplines with a focus to understand, evaluate and reduce the carbon footprints of human activities and aim towards environmental & social well-being. A few of the emerging disciplines include Sustainable Design, Sustainable Architecture, Sustainable Fashion, Sustainable Tourism, Sustainable Agriculture and so on. This article gives an overview of sustainability concerns in the fashion industry and the technology intervention to address these concerns.

There are some of the very useful resources which give an insight into the concept of Sustainable Fashion and its gradual entry into the fashion mainstream. Janet Hethorn and Connie Ulasewicz in their book “Sustainable Fashion: Why Now?” discuss the various issues and practices related to Sustainable Fashion. Kate Fletcher promoter of “Slow Fashion” in her book ‘Sustainable Fashion and Textiles Design Journeys” writes about ecologically sustainable fashion and textiles.”Green Technology, Strategy and leadership for clean and sustainable communities” [3] discusses strategies for green and clean living. Eco Textile News [4] gives an insight into the latest developments in the field of environmental & social sustainability. The website Business Green [8] informs about Fashion industry signing up to green makeover. Sustainable Style Foundation [7] talks about “look fabulous live well, do good”. London College of Fashion launched the Centre for Sustainable Fashion (CSF) in 2008 to function as a globally connected catalyst for change moving towards a sustainable fashion economy.

Information technology today has become the keystone in an organization’s quest for growth in a rapidly changing and complex environment characterized by intense competition, global impacts, uncertainties and fast-changing business models. Computer technology plays an important role in the strengthening and reinforcing the sustainability efforts and is specifically directed to the contribution of computer technology for bringing in social & environmental sustainability in the Fashion industry. It contributes significantly towards giving a greener face to the fashion value-chain. The computer technology, policies & practices with an orientation towards environmental, social and economic sustainability is known as Green Technology (greentech) or environmental technology (envirotech). Widespread application of greentech or envirotech in the Fashion industry is an important dimension of Sustainable development. Because of its role as a tool for sustainable development, green technology is also known as sustainable technology.

Some of the major areas where sustainable technology has been deployed.

Technology Related To Material Used

• Technology for weaving, printing, dyeing and finishing of yarn & fabric
• Technology for Non-toxic processing and treatments of fiber
• Testing of Fabric for contaminants
• Technology for Stain-free and wrinkle-free fabric

Technology Related To Design

• Computer-aided design of apparel
• Automatic manipulation of fabric
• Colour inventory management

Technology Related To Processes / Software Modules

• Enterprise Resource Planning
• Electronic Data Interchange
• Product Life Cycle Management
• Supply chain management

Technology Related To Manufacturing

• Operating facilities with alternative or renewable sources of energy such as landfill gas, wind, solar, low-impact hydroelectric facilities etc.
• Technology for reducing harmful emission
• Technology for Chemical-free processes
• Body-scanning for made-to-measure, ready-to-wear, Seamless apparel technology, custom-fit, Made-to-order, Mass-customization,
• Quality control & assurance
• Robotics
• Automated on-line fabric inspection
• Sewing machines and embroidery technology

Technology Related To Distribution, Transportation And Retail Of Fashion Articles

• Use of RFID for effective tracking & securing of fashion products and establishing a green supply-chain.
• IT Planning for enhanced efficiency of processes and improved supply-chain responsiveness.
• Minimal or eco-friendly packaging using recycled and eco-friendly material.
• e-commerce, e-retailing, on-line shopping

Consumer-Use Technology

• Smart textile, smart garment
• Less frequent laundry
• Fewer but multi-utility garments
• Garments with extended life-span
• Innovative clothing

Post-Consumer Technology Related To Disposal, Recycling And Reuse

• Zero-waste through implementing “Closed Loop” waste-management techniques.
• Fiber-to-fiber recycling
• Refurbished or recycled fiber and fabric

The intervention of green technology in the fashion industry is bringing forth various aspects such as Green material, Green design, green manufacturing, green transportation, green retail, green post-consumer management and so on. These concepts have relevance to various key areas in the fashion value chain where eco-friendly technology and alternate solutions can replace the conventional methods. The coming years are going to witness integration of green technology in various stages from fibre to fabric, from raw material to the finished fashion article covering the farming, sourcing, designing, manufacturing aspects and from Manufacturer to retailer and finally to the consumer covering the warehousing, ordering, transportation, retailing, consuming and post-consumer management.

References:

• Janet Hethorn, Connie Ulasewicz, Sustainable Fashion: Why Now? A conversation exploring issues, practices, and possibilities
• Kate Fletcher , Sustainable Fashion and Textiles Design Journeys
• Green Technology, Strategy and leadership for clean and sustainable communities green-technology.org (accessed on 2 May 2009)
• Eco Textile News ecotextile.com (accessed on 11 May 2009)
• Fashion industry signs up to green makeover businessgreen.com (accessed on 15 May 2009)
• Fashioning the future sustainable-fashion.com (accessed on 5 January 2010)
• Sustainable Style Foundation sustainablestyle.org (accessed on 5 January 2010) at

About the Author:

The author is Assistant Professor at Department of Fashion Management Studies, National Institute of Fashion Technology

Author: Fin24

Mr Price’s online sales have continued on a sharp upward trajectory, contributing to a marked year-on-increase in overall earnings, the group has said.

Mr Price recorded 7.4% growth year-on-year in retail sales and other income, to R7.4bn, during the first four months of the financial year ending 30 March 2019, it said in a statement on Thursday.

Online sales recorded strong growth during the period, Mr Price said, increasing by 28.1% to 83.2m. The MRP Apparel online channel achieved sales growth of 37.6%, while MRP Home saw 19.5% and MRP Sport saw 31.3%.

Cellular and mobile revenue, meanwhile, increased 56.7% to R196.5m, which Mr Price attributed mainly to the ongoing roll out of in-store cellular kiosks.

• READ: Mr Price claws back market share while top-end retailers lose out

Total retail sales, including sales to franchisees, of R6.9bn were 6.5% higher than the corresponding period in the previous year.

Group cash sales increased 7.0%, constituting 82.9% of total sales and credit sales reflected growth of 4.1% Mr Price said.

South African sales increased 6.4% to R6.4bn, while sales in non-South African corporate-owned stores grew 9.1% to R520.8m.

This growth was helped along by the inclusion of previously franchised Kenyan stores from late May 2018, Mr Price said.

Excluding Kenya, corporate-owned store growth was 1.8%.

Sales to franchisees decreased 30.9%, the company said, although excluding Kenya, sales were up 11%.

• READ: Investors cheer Mr Price’s upbeat trade update

New store openings and expansions meant weighted average trading space increased by 3.1%, though after store closures and reductions were taken into account, net weighted average trading space was up 1.8%.

Other income grew by 23.5% to R459.4m, while debtors’ interest and fees grew 6.9% to R160.1m, with insurance revenue of R85.5m increased to 6.9%. Other sundry income increased 2.8% to R17.3m.

Retail selling price inflation, including the impact of product mix changes and lower markdowns, was 4.2%.

“The retail environment is expected to remain highly competitive until more robust economic growth is attained in South Africa,” the statement said.

“In addition, international trade wars have weighed down on emerging markets. Navigating the impact on consumers of a stagnant economy and a weak ZAR/USD exchange rate is a top priority and we are confident that our fashion, everyday low-price business model is well-positioned to offer great value to customers under these constrained conditions.”

Mr Price shares [JSE: MRP] were trading at R239.47 at 10.24 on Thursday morning, down 0.12%.