Cheryl Hunter (shelflife at marklives.com)’s weekly pick of recent product, packaging, design and food launches:
- Diamond Walk opens at Sandton City
- A brand new South African invention, and
- PEP gets banking
Super couture for Sandton
Sandton City (www.sandtoncity.com) offers more than 330 shops in a contemporary setting. It is in the heart of the country’s most affluent playground and is the retail darling of Africa’s elite and fashion-forward.
The new Diamond Walk is the chic setting of the world’s most-coveted luxury retail brands in a shopping destination already visited by millions of local and international visitors.
Comments Alex Phakathi, Stanlib Fund Manager for the Liberty Property Portfolio: “The launch of Sandton City Diamond Walk, featuring the world’s leading names in luxury and super-luxury retail, creates an even greater range of exceptional shopping available at Sandton City.
Sandton City also extended its trading hours from 1 April 2015: from Mondays to Saturdays, shops are now open 9am–8pm and, on Sundays and public holidays, 9am–6pm.
Unlatching the lock
Much like the Kreepy Krauly and Pratley Putty, two famous South African inventions, LockLatch is a perfect example of how a simple idea and a stroke of genius combine in a pressure cooker of necessity.
While sailing the coast of Brazil, Bairos experienced a spate of burglaries on his yacht when he left the hatch open for ventilation and to allow his dog access to the outdoors. He conceptualised a lockable latch that would allow him air circulation yet protection from long fingers, resulting in the first LockLatch, made on board the yacht.
Bairos never intentionally became an inventor but kept improving upon his invention and eventually found a bearded, bespectacled 85-year-old serial inventor who lived from his many inventions and was ready to mentor Bairos. It took discipline to turn his idea into a real marketable product that included costing, market and materials, research, manufacturing systems and patenting — a long, arduous and enlightening journey.
Today, Bairos holds the South African and international patent for LockLatch, and a high-tech engineering company manufactures high-quality LockLatches from stainless steel.
Asked why everyone needs a LockLatch, Bairos says: “Safety. We need to protect our homes and loved ones and I believe LockLatch is your first line of defence. Apart from that, fresh air, especially along the coast, should be enjoyed and LockLatch allows you to keep your windows open for ventilation whilst also protecting it from the wind.”
Made from stainless steel, it fits all doors, sliding doors, windows and hatches horizontally and vertically. LockLatch (www.locklatch.co.za) is quality-assured and comes with a lifetime guarantee. It’s just had packaging designed for delivery by courier and Santam has approved it in the burglar-bar category and will pay in the event of a breakthrough.
Pepping up bank access
PEP was the first company in the world to sell airtime through its tills and now this SA export has launched an entirely new type of debit card for customers to access a comprehensive and affordable range of banking services.
The PEPplus debit card has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirement, and maybe opened at any PEP, which has 1 600 stores in SA and often in locations where there are no banks.
While other store cards serve as loyalty cards or are linked to rewards programmes, this card serves strictly as a bank account. There are also no minimum income requirements to open an account, maing it accessible to all. The card means cash can be left safely in the bank and allows for convenient deposits and payments for airtime and electricity directly from users’ cellphones.
Cardholders may withdraw cash at selected retailers and may activate their accounts on their cellphones, with anytime access to the account.
There are certain restrictions: for example, daily transactions may not exceed R3 000, and the account balance and monthly transactions may not exceed R25 000.
Shelf Life is MarkLives.com’s weekly column covering new product, packaging, design and food launches. Notify us of yours at shelflife at marklives dot com. Want to sponsor Shelf Life? Contact us here.
Cheryl Hunter (@cherylhunter) has written for the South African media, marketing and advertising industries for more than 15 years. A former editor of M&M in Independent Newspapers and contributor to Bizcommunity, AdFocus, AdReview and the Ad Annual, she has also produced for various television networks and currently consults on communication strategy and media liaison.
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