Retail news. Semester 1 of 2014 table of contents

Zimbabwe internet mobile phone traffic tops SUNDAY MAIL. 21 July 2012

Business Editor

The country’s internet traffic conducted through mobile phone devices is the highest in the world at 58,1 percent, raising expectations that the local market could be prime for both m-commerce and e-commerce, an international tele-communications expert has said.

M-commerce is simply described as the buying and selling of goods using hand-held devices, while e-commerce is the buying and selling of goods on the internet or the worldwide web. Mobile telephones have provided a convenient platform for the trading of goods and services.Speaking at a recent workshop on brand strategy in the digital space, which was organised by Ryan Octave Lane, Mr Jonathan Hoehler, the chief technical officer of Starfish, a South African-based firm that specialises in wireless applications, noted that a study by Royal Kingdom had shown that mobile data now constitute about 10 percent of all data traffic globally across the internet.
He added that the growth in mobile phone internet traffic in Africa, particularly in Zimbabwe, is “phenomenal”. “Globally, now, mobile data constitute about 10 percent of all data traffic globally across the internet. And where does Africa sit? At 14,85 percent. So, of all our Internet traffic throughout the entire continent, 14,85 percent of it is mobile data, and the second highest in the world outside Asia, which has two huge markets in China and India.
“In 2010 that figure was about 5,81 percent. That’s impressive growth . . . “And what is so interesting for me is that Zimbabwe, according to the research done by Royal Kingdom, 58,06 percent of all Internet traffic is done by the mobile phone — it’s the highest in the world, which is really, really cool,” said Mr Hoehler.
Most interestingly, according to Mr Hoehler, there was also a study that was done by web browsing giant Opera Mini indicating the most visited sites in Zimbabwe and the commonly used handsets in accessing these sites. The top 10 visited sites included Facebook, Google, Wikipedia, Youtube, Yahoo, BBC, Opera Mini site, The Herald, Twitter, CNN. In addition, the commonly used mobile phones are the Nokia Xpress Music, Samsung E250, all Nokias and LG phones.
It is believed that this pattern provides interesting data for businesses who intend to leverage on the technological boom to market and sell their goods. The advent of the mobile phone has had far-reaching impact on communication on the continent as fixed telephone lines have remained insignificant. Currently, Africa is considered the second biggest mobile market in the world, but the fastest growing mobile market. Estimates indicate that 90 percent of all mobile phones in Africa are mobile phones, while there are 1,1 billion active mobile SIM cards.But most crucially, more than 96 percent of all subscribers on the continent are pre-paid.
Again, Zimbabwe is considered as the fastest-growing market for mobile data usage. Added Mr Hoehler: “In terms of mobile data usage, Zimbabwe is also, out of the countries that were analysed — about 10 countries — the fastest-growing market. That included South Africa, Kenya and Egypt. There is a lot for mobile data and mobile data traffic in Zimbabwe.”
Separately, Ryan Octave Lane executive chairman Dr Brian Sedze said the revolution brought by technology has created two distinct groups: the digital natives, which is made up of those under 20 and are much more conversant with technology and its platforms; and the digital immigrants made up of people usually above 25 who find it difficult to use the new platforms.
“Technology creates and destroys value. So, technology has got an impact on the firms, individuals and society. Today, organisations are just about creating value by collaborating with consumers and co-creating the product. Products are now being marketed by being inclusive with the customer. About 65 percent of Africans access internet over the phone, and a phone is no longer a platform for voice, it is now a platform for commerce.

“Everyone is accessing his internet via a mobile device. You also have to understand to market using social platforms. “However, most organisations do not know where their audiences are. If you are marketing; if your brand has to get good presence, it has got to be on the platform where people spend most of their time,” explained Dr Sedze.

Market watchers note that the local tele-communications boom, especially for mobile telephony, has been occasioned by massive investments by mobile telecommunications companies Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, Telecel Zimbabwe and NetOne. Econet has injected more than $600 million into expansion and plans are already advanced to pour additional resources.
Last week, information gathered suggested that Net*One was going to receive equipment worth $200 million from its Chinese technical partner Huawei Technologies. The laying of fibre-optic cables has also raised expectations that broadband capacity will be enhanced in the short to medium term.

Zimbabweans sell just about anything. The Standard September 14, 2012

Flea-markets are sprouting at almost all available spaces at shopping centres in the city’s high-density areas.  Women and men line up at the flea-markets selling fish, pieces of meat or repackaged commodities ranging from rice, cooking oil to maize-meal.
It has become so common to see rows of vegetable stalls on almost every street in Harare’s poor suburban areas.

In the evening, the traders troop into the central business district (CBD) to sell goods such as vegetables, tomatoes, oranges and pirated CDs virtually suffocating the capital that was once known as the Sunshine city. Almost everyone is selling something in search of the elusive American dollar or the South African rand, which officially came into use following the introduction of the multi-currency regime by the shaky inclusive government last year.

The inaccessibility of American dollars — also known in local street lingo as “MaObama” a name derived from US President Barack Obama’s surname — is a cause for worry for the majority of Zimbabweans. Driven into extreme desperation for the greenback, some people even sell commodities which one would easily pick up from rubbish bins.

One such person is Onias Sithole, who operates a “street hardware” in Harare’s Warren Park D suburb.
At his “hardware”, a makeshift shack, there are rusty bolts, nuts, and nails some which look like they were unearthed from a compost heap.

The father of four, who only returned from Botswana early this year where he worked as a gardener, said he sells anything that comes his way to make ends meet. “If I get a dollar or two from here every day, I am ok,” Sithole said. “It will enable me to feed my small family.” His wife Ellina, a former receptionist with a manufacturing firm in Harare’s Workington industrial area, sells green vegetables just outside their lodgings in the same suburb to complement her husband’s daily takings. The firm she used to work for closed shop in 2005, at the height of the economic meltdown which resulted in the closure of nearly 70% of the manufacturing companies countrywide.

Traders and hawkers in Mbare’s Mupedzanhamo and the Green Market are more aggressive and, at times, abusive. They shout at the top of their voices to draw customers’ attention chanting: A dollar for two T-shirts and your child will look smart.”

Some literally drag customers to their stalls — just to make them part with the most sought after greenback.  It is survival of the fittest in the hawking business.
One has to be innovative or even cunning to survive or else they get booted out of business.

Unable to keep up with other traders in the Green Market, 36-year-old Tonderai Chikotore who hails from Buhera, now sells goats some 10 kms outside Harare, at a place popularly known as PaMbudzi. He buys the goats from rural areas – put them in lorries or on top of buses – taking them to Harare where there is a ready market.   

“It brings higher returns but it is very risky because in most of the cases I don’t get proper documentation to transport these goats,” Chikotore said.
“In most cases, you have to bribe the police all the way from let’s say Buhera and that erodes the profit margin.” 

Goats cost between US$25 and US$50 depending on their size. Two weeks ago, goat traders in Harare lost 188 animals after police, city council and animal welfare organisations, raided them on accusations of mistreating the animal. Some animals spend the whole day roped on the same place with nothing to eat.

Money changers are back on the streets but it is no longer big business as it was during the Zimbabwe dollar regime.

They now survive on the small profits margin for exchange mostly for the America dollar to the rand or vice versa. First, it was the Nigerians and other foreigners running small cubicle shops but locals have followed suit. Property owners have virtually decimated the once spacious buildings, turning them into little cubicles. They rent them out to small traders, who sell goods ranging from clothes, motor vehicle spare parts to hardware.

In rural areas, villagers have resorted to barter – a mode of trade that died nearly over a century ago. They exchange their chickens, goats and even cattle for buckets of maize because of desperation. Analyst say with 90% of Zimbabweans out of employment, poverty has turned the majority of Zimbabweans into “entrepreneurial wolves.” Those who formally employed are not getting enough forcing them to supplement their incomes through vending or “dealing”.

Civil servants who formed the bulk of the workers in the country earn US$180 per month, an amount far below the poverty datum line (PDL). Oxfam International, a global humanitarian organisation, says over 80% of the country’s population lives on less than US$1 a day. Consumer watchdog, the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ), says a family of six requires US$487 per month to lead a normal life. Prosper Chitambara, a development economist with the Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe (Ledriz) said no economy can be sustained by vendors and hawkers.

He called for the revival of the economy to enable it to absorb the multitudes of street traders, most of whom are skilled and professional people.

“This is symptomatic of the challenges bedevilling the economy,” he said. “No economy can be sustained by informal traders.” Chitambara said four out of every five people were in the informal sector in the country. It will take time for the multitude of school leavers and retrenchees to be absorbed into formal employment in an economy destroyed by President Robert Mugabe’s policies. 

BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE AND JOHN MOKWETSI