In this week's top stories, South African retail sales for June 2018 grew by 2.9% year-on-year excluding the effects of inflation, marking the weakest pace of growth since October 2017. And in light of Women's Month, OnShelf Pharma's Eben Esterhuizen looks at how women fare in the local retail market.
Continuing our Women's Month theme, I interview Signal Gun's head brewer Jéanri Nel about her fruitful career in beer, Terry Levin chats to co-founder Silvana Dantu about adding sparkle to the agro-processing sector with her sparkling, alcohol-free beverage brand Zari Sparkling Grape juice, and Nicci Botha profiles Ethiopian entrepreneur Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu about transforming quintessential Ethiopian products into global brands.
In other top news, I share the scoop on a new, innovative local wine brand Mensa that's using augmented reality to merge wine quaffing with digital storytelling, and Vend has released data detailing the top performing independent retail categories in SA.
In fashion, the winners of the second annual SAFW Cape Wools SA Designer Challenge have been announced, and Maroefah Smith shares insight into what's in store for Australian brand Witchery for spring/summer 2018.
Until next week, enjoy!
Lauren Hartzenberg
Retail Editor: Bizcommunity.com
