Fashion retailer Edcon Holdings suffered a first-quarter loss of R643 million to June, compared with a R1,13 billion profit for the corresponding period a year ago. 29 Aug 2008
Vincent Park could become the first casualty in East London's battle of the malls with a major tenant considering cutting its store in half in favour of another outlet in the new Hemingways Mall. 29 Aug 2008
Woolworths has a steady supplier base. It has teams of scientists developing new products. Woolworths's reputation as a tough and demanding buyer of products and services precedes it. Suppliers confirm this and CEO Simon Susman concedes that working with his company “can be challenging”. 29 Aug 2008
USA: More than a third of mainstream consumers over the age of 30 experience deep frustration associated with their cell phone's interface according to a study revealed yesterday by Bowen Research, a firm that researches and evaluates consumer attitudes and behavior about high tech products, software and electronics. 29 Aug 2008
UNITED KINGDOM: As a result of increasing demand from industry franchisees, today marks the official launch of a new franchise association and dedicated web portal: www.franchiseeassociation.org.uk. 29 Aug 2008
Why sell somebody else's product line when you can do a better job offering your own? That was the question that ultimately pushed Jan Hichert, CEO of Astaro, and two other cofounders to develop their own Internet security solutions for a market they viewed as needy of attention - the small- to medium-sized business (SMB) segment. 29 Aug 2008
South Africa's Production Price Index (PPI) has increased by 18.9% year-on-year in July from 16.8% year-on-year in June. 28 Aug 2008
Simonsig Estate has named its full-bodied Shiraz, Mr Borio's, in honour of a remarkable friend of the Malan family. 28 Aug 2008
The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality is set to double the number of food garden projects set up in the area to respond to the challenge of high food prices and poverty. A resolution was taken at the second annual Ekurhuleni Women's Agricultural Summit which was hosted by the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality and Ekurhuleni Women in Agriculture this week to set up another 1500 food-producing projects. 28 Aug 2008
Aimed at creating awareness around Oral Health Month and the free dental check up initiative, Colgate-Palmolive has commissioned Mamba Media to create a stand-alone Colgate comic to run specifically in the Daily Sun newspaper on the 4 and 20 August 2008. 28 Aug 2008
Mauritius received its first taste of dedicated Puma gear this month with the launch of the marque's first brand store on the island this month. Consumers and travellers to Mauritius will now have access to a wide range of Puma's sports lifestyle products available in one store. 28 Aug 2008
Did a computer intrusion at a Best Western hotel in Germany open the door for a hacker to steal the records of 8 million customers and pull off "the greatest cyber-heist in world history", as a Scottish newspaper put it? Or was the incident a significantly more minor affair, affecting only 10 customers at the one facility, as claimed by Best Western International? 28 Aug 2008
It may be true that environmental groups are singling out Apple for special attention in order to get clean-tech issues more ink. It may also be true that Apple is making an effort to green up its processes to polish its image. The big question, though, is whether the consumers who stand between the company and the activists are willing to spend more of their own green to advance the cause. 28 Aug 2008
South Africa's economy remains in good health despite a slowdown in consumer spending. 27 Aug 2008
Price increases in food, fuel and electricity as well as transport have pushed July's Consumer Price Index excluding interest on mortgage bands (CPIX), to an all-time high of 13% year-on-year (y/y). 27 Aug 2008
Luggage designer Samsonite launches its new range, Solana: The Intelligent Collection, in South Africa this month; showcasing a unique approach to lightness, flexibility and strength through the use of innovative materials. 27 Aug 2008
Worldwide sales of mobile phones reached close to 305 million units in the second quarter of 2008, a 11.8% increase over the second quarter of 2007, according to Gartner, Inc. Sales of mobile phones in the mature markets of Western Europe and North America slightly recovered after a difficult start. Western Europe reached close to 42 million units while North America surpassed 44 million units in the second quarter of 2008. 27 Aug 2008
Absa, in collaboration with Intel Corporation and Microsoft, has developed a PC and notebook finance package, aimed at tertiary education level students. The intention is to enable students to have access to affordable finance for purchasing a new PC or notebook computer for use in their studies. 27 Aug 2008
Sahara Computers, in association with its international technology partner, Intel Corporation South Africa, has released its latest mobile solution, the Sahara ImageBook 15WS notebook - based on Intel's latest platform and powered by Intel Centrino 2 processor technology. 27 Aug 2008
At a fashion workshop I was surprised by the claim from members of the fashion community that China will never be a threat to local fashion designers because they only focus "on the low-end" of the fashion value-chain and do not and cannot produce "design intensive clothing". Such a fallacy is misleading and dangerous. A claim like this can lead to complacency amongst our designers. 27 Aug 2008
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