Massmart’s online shift will offer no quick fix
At the start of the coronavirus lockdown two months ago, SA’s big retailers reported unprecedented sales growth that commentators viewed as temporary.
The fable is no different for Massmart, which reported a sales drag resulting from the adverse effect of the lockdown this week. The retailer is expecting headlines losses of R1.2bn and said sales have dropped a dramatic 11.9% to R28.2bn.
But even before the coronavirus, the retailer’s problems had gone far beyond structural issues. It shut its DionWired stores and tasked itself with fixing some of its largest strategic errors, including the introduction of fresh food to Game.
To add to its woes, Builders Warehouse, a star performer, recently gained a competitor in new French entrant Leroy Merlin, which is backed by the power and size of its parent, Groupe Adeo. Leroy Merlin is the thirdlargest home improvement retailer in the world.
Before the virus surfaced in SA, Massmart hoped that fixing its Game stable would help it get its groove back, but with Covid19 causing it to focus on cash flow and liquidity, that ambition might be delayed.
Many elements need fixing at Massmart, such as becoming online relevant to accommodate a consumer ditching the bricksand-mortar stores for the digital marketplace.
If it really wants to win back favour among consumers, it should look to its parent Walmart, which has been in an aggressive online battle with US online retail giant Amazon.
The question is, will Covid-19 derail Massmart’s plan to win back its relevance among SA consumers?
PANDEMIC VS PRIVACY
How much did the government know about us before the arrival of Covid-19? How much will it know about us when the crisis is finally contained?
For a long time, Western powers have been painting a dystopian picture of China’s use of public surveillance systems as an invasion of privacy, but in an ironic twist, the world is now turning to similar technologies to help governments with reopening economies.
This week, technology group EOH launched its Sikhona app that will allow employers to monitor and control the movement of people in a workplace to ensure their health and safety. The app also offers room- or crowd-density metrics, as well as notifying employees whether they are allowed to return to the office in advisories based on their specific risk factors.
This is the latest in a series of technologies developed locally in response to Covid-19 that are collecting data on people.
Telkom has also led the charge in track-and-trace programs that allow health authorities to comprehensively trace all the people with whom someone infected with Covid-19 has been in contact. Despite the privacy concerns around the matter, the government has said the publichealth mandate supersedes the rights of individuals during what has tirelessly been described as an unprecedented time.
The real question is what happens to the data collected by the government and technology companies when all has been said and done about these unprecedented times?
For now, the technology is helping us fight a common enemy, but South Africans may do well to be concerned about their future digital footprints.