The Times and Sowetan 2009 Retail Awards

Posted on 09. Oct, 2009 by admin in Avusa Media News

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Retailers narrowly beat their competitors to win South Africa’s top shopping outlet spot at The Times and Sowetan 2009 Retail Awards, which in its second year has broadened its scope to go beyond Gauteng and become a national survey. The hotly-contested awards, which proved that the retail environment is highly competitive with small differences in ratings, took place on October 8 and were fittingly staged in a retail wonderland at Northgate Ice Rink.

The survey, that provides retailers and retail advertisers with valuable insights into where South Africans love to shop ‘til they drop, saw quite a shake-up of winners in the different categories. This was due to new category spilts and changes, extended coverage of the study and an innovative research study conducted by TNS Research Surveys to ensure more niche outlets were included, which is in line with the new emphasis worldwide that specialist stores also form an integral part of the consumers’ shopping experience.

For new categories, the Grand Prix Award was the most coveted and was based on the scores of all the retail brands measured, regardless of category. This was easily won by KFC, which also dominated the fast food chicken category. Edgars came in second place and Shoprite in the third position.

Another big award on the night was for the Overall Retail Experience Award that took the four key retail attributes of quality, range, service and value into account. Pick ‘n Pay was crowned the winner by virtue of exceptional scores for quality, range and service while Shoprite took the second spot for a much-better-than-average score for good value. Checkers was third and Woolworths fourth for their image of offering very good quality.

In the new categories retailers that won the hearts and minds of South African shoppers included Tops at Spar for retail liquor chain, Shoprite in the supermarket and hypermarket category, Trade Centre as the top wholesaler, Spur easily won the fast food burger category and family sit-down restaurant while Mugg and Bean is the best place to grab a cup of coffee.

Specialist and niche outlets was a focus for the 2009 Retail Awards and one of the most desirable awards was for best exclusive brand store, which was won by Levi’s followed by La Coste and Uzzi.

As everyone knows a girl can never have too many shoes, so one of the major shifts on the night in the existing categories included Nine West and Green Cross pushing out Shoe City and Bata for the top three shoes stores with Spitz grabbing the top spot.

South Africans are still gaga for The Baby Company at Ackermans, the winner again this year for specialist baby and child stores category but have chosen new entrants, Reggies and Toys R Us over previous winners, Edgars and Baby City. Another exciting development saw Maponya Mall steal third position for leading shopping centre over last year’s two East Rand contenders.

Favourite outlets that are once again dominant winners include Edgars, Woolworths and Truworths in clothing with specialist sport and outdoor retailers Total Sports, Sport Scene and Nike winners again and Game, Hi-Fi Corporation and Makro the top shops for electronics and gadgets.

One of the luckiest winners on the night was Neil Van Schalkwyk from The Media Shop who won a lavish shopping spree at a shopping centre of their choice valued at R50 000.



Herewith the full results of The Times and Sowetan 2009 Retail Awards: