Retailers are laying down the battle lines for their annual festive season showdown. And Shoprite has fired the first warning salvo. South Africa's biggest grocer will "beat any toy price by 10% if a competitor store advertises the identical item at a lower price this festive season", a spokeswoman said. Commenting, Nielsen's Africa and Middle East MD, Craig Henry, said festive-season marketing campaigns will be dominated by competitive pricing. "We will see retailers playing this card and saying that inflation is running lower in stores, but whether or not it's what the consumer really wants, is another matter altogether," he said. According to its results for the year ended June 2016, Shoprite maintained internal food inflation at 3.5% for its South African operations, compared to the official food inflation rate of 7.2%. Massmart - which owns Makro and Game, and is owned by US-based Walmart - reported that sales inflation across all its divisions was 5.8% for the 26 weeks ended J...
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