Mmegi

Inside Choppies’ strategy to lift consumer confidence

Seeking win wins: Ottapathu PIC.KENNEDY RAMOKONE
Seeking win wins: Ottapathu PIC.KENNEDY RAMOKONE

An index tracking average food prices shows the horrors consumers are facing. The country’s largest grocer with 113 stores, says Batswana are moving to bulk purchases, delaying non-essentials and ditching luxuries. CEO, Ramachandran Ottapathu, says Choppies is ready to help the consumers who built it. He spoke to MBONGENI MGUNI & SHARON MATHALA

The numbers gathered, analysed and produced monthly by Statistics Botswana don’t tell the full story.

For instance, the data agency’s figures say annual food inflation as at August was five percent, from 4.3% in July. The index assigns weights on various categories of food and measures the average movements in prices through the year.

Editor's Comment
Ruling party should tread carefully on cadre deployment

But on the particularly sensitive question of cadre deployment, the BNF must tread very carefully.The issue deserves robust debate, not ideological enthusiasm. Recent public comments from the BNF leadership are reassuring: the party has said that government positions should be based on merit and competence rather than party membership, and that it does not have a specific cadre-deployment policy.That principle should remain firmly at the centre...

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