With 7 million internet users, 4 million Facebook profiles, 10 million people on MXit and being the 10th largest country group on LinkedIn, South Africa is no longer an internet backwater; it’s become a force to be reckoned with. Every aspect of South African online usage has dramatically increased over the last year, as growing awareness and the arrival of Seacom made the internet an important and accessible business tool. As consumers become web literate, businesses must keep up with online trends. Today, every business is expected to have a web presence of some kind – whether a website, social networking profile or even an online directory listing. If your business doesn’t come up in web search results, it is practically invisible to 7 million of South Africa’s most affluent and connected customers. Here are just a few benefits of marketing your business online: ·          Online marketing is an affordable way to reach a vast audience – approac...

Everything you REALLY need to know about those deals but were too afraid to ask… By Michael Said This has been an exciting year and it has been quite a while since I put fingers to keys (used to say pen to paper in the old days), waiting for something, besides the terrible state of the restaurant industry, to rouse my interest. I do not wish to belabour the dismal state of the industry, except to say that it has operators clutching at straws and throwing a fair amount of “Hail Mary” passes into the air. Enter Groupon et al and all the promises of new customers, repeat business and full restaurants. Groupon and other local and international deal makers have proven to be wildly popular. What’s not to like? I can get a R500 massage for R199, I can get my hair done at a fraction of the price, learn to use all sorts of equipment and dine out at 60% off. Who wouldn’t like it? Well, apparently, some merchants aren’t too enamoured with it and before you sign on the dotted line there are som...

This month we will take a break from the Consumer Protection Act as we look at trade mark protection in our neighbouring states and the rest of the African continent. A logical extension for a franchise business is to branch into neighbouring countries or even venture further north into Africa. Due to such free trade initiatives as The Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional organization aiming to promote co-operation and integration amongst its member states, the economies of such states have become increasingly interdependent, with an attendant free flow of goods and services across borders. The SADC member states are Angola, Botswana, DRC, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe . Any goods being placed on the market in one of these countries, will invariably find its way into the other member countries. No regional system exists for filing a trade mark application in respect of all the S...