Retail royalty to explore how SA shops

12 June 2016 - 02:00 By NASHIRA DAVIDS

A handful of people who are likely to arrive in Cape Town this week on their private jets, have the spending power to turn around the shrinking South African economy. Headed by Sir Martin Sorrell (salary R1.5-billion), head of global advertising behemoth WPP, and Doug McMillon, head of Walmart (salary R293-million), they are flying in for the Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit, which starts on Wednesday.The 800 delegates from 40 countries include retail royalty such as Coca-Cola global head Muhtar Kent (2015 salary R220-million), Dave Lewis of Tesco (who was paid R89-million in his first six months at the helm), and Daniel Zhang of Alibaba, the world's largest e-commerce company.story_article_left1They will be joined by local retail giants such as Christo Wiese of Shoprite and the Ackerman family of Pick n Pay in discussing the disruption unleashed in the consumer goods and retail arenas by the digital revolution.Touted as the industry's "best global CEO event", the three-day conference would focus on bridging the generation gap between established companies and new-millennium digital entrepreneurs, said Isabelle Odesser, marketing director for the Consumer Goods Forum in France.The conference, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, is housing delegates at two hotels - the Westin and the Cullinan - and a fleet of chauffeured cars has been organised by the delegates' management teams.Before the business leaders start work, they will do a little exploring. "They will be visiting Nederburg and Boschendal and will enjoy wine-tasting and a buffet lunch," said Odesser. "This tour is for registered delegates and is by invitation only. It has proved very popular, given the number of registrations we've had."Delegates will also be able to buy essentials such as airtime at the spaza shops they will visit in Khayelitsha."This tour is sponsored by [food company] Mars and the idea is to provide visitors from around the world with the best example of diversity in retail in South Africa," said Odesser."Our international delegates are eager to understand how different the retail scene is here in South Africa and to use these differences to benchmark their own practices and offerings."mini_story_image_hright1Speakers during the three days of presentations include Nelson Mandela's former private secretary, Zelda la Grange, and World Cup-winning former Springbok captain Francois Pienaar.To ensure they don't forget the Mother City, delegates will leave with gift bags made from recycled billboards by Waste2Wow. Inside will be "sustainable, locally produced goodies".Pick n Pay chairman Gareth Ackerman said: "There has never been a more exciting time to be in retail. Rapid developments in technology, economic and demographic pressures, disruption in all areas of business, and ever-evolving consumer tastes and habits have helped to make retailers more innovative, faster to change, and more diverse in their offerings and their route to market."davidsn@sundaytimes.co.za..

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