David vs Goliath in grocery market probe
In South Africa, the informal food market constitutes 35% of the total food-retail market, RMB Morgan Stanley estimates
The regulatory groundwork to overhaul the grocery retail market was begun this week. It came with submissions to the Competition Commission during public hearings. In the Johannesburg and Pretoria hearings, the big four grocery retailers - Massmart, Shoprite, Pick n Pay and Spar - came under scrutiny. David-and-Goliath stories were told to the inquiry's panel, leaving analysts pondering the possible outcomes for the industry. Alec Abraham, a senior retail analyst at Sasfin Wealth, said: "The most palatable approach would be for the big four retailers [to] contribute to a development fund that supports independent suppliers." Abraham did not expect the commission to protect smaller retailers in order to save the few jobs they created and penalise big retailers, which employed far more people."The big retailers employ many more people and in my view it doesn't make sense that you are now going to put society in a worse position on a net basis for the benefit of a smaller group of ind...
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