10 March 2006
	RETAIL Plan IN KEEPING with consumer SPENDING By Chris Gilmour The fact that most retailers are fast-tracking senior black executives will become evident in a few years

A retail charter is probably a long way off, but this hasn't prevented most retailers from forging ahead with significant and sustainable empowerment strategies. Consumer spending remains buoyant and, given that most consumer spending emanates from black consumers, it's not surprising that more and more retailers are voluntarily adopting a constructive approach to black economic empowerment. With few exceptions, retailers are JSE-listed entities and most of them have broad shareholder bases. In some instances, however - such as Pick 'n Pay, Foschini and Shoprite Checkers - there is family or near-family control in varying degrees. As far as equity ownership is concerned, they will undoubtedly want to share their success with entrepreneurial black partners, rather than just doing cynical deals with "the usual suspects" who form the core of the black elite. The progress on most other elements of the scorecard has been fast and profound. Most retailers are fast-tracking senior black executives, a development tha t will become far more apparent within the next couple of years. Edcon has been especially visible in corporate social investment, partnering initiatives such as Rally to Read. Foschini drops from one to three while Edcon moves into pole position. But LA Group, which was nowhere last year, soars to second position. Started as a retail operation 30 years ago, LA listed in 1996. As chairman Abdul Kader Peer pointed out in last year's annual financials, LA was always a black-empowered organisation. The group exited retailing some years ago and now concentrates on sourcing and distributing branded apparel into distinctive niches in the widely diverse marketplace. Massmart, number 10 last year, has obviously concentrated its mind on moving up and comes in at number four this year. Big strides in skills, enterprise development and corporate social investments (CSI) made a huge impact on Massmart's ranking compared with last year. Woolworths moved ahead nicely, from nine to five, helped by a huge improvement in its CSI score.