'Everyone can benefit from Wal-Mart coming to SA'

He said on Wednesday, 6 April 2011, that retailers should feel more confident as home brands were becoming more recognised by customers.

"If you take the US, which has had own brands at a very high level for a long time and probably up until the end of the 1980's, where they were offering generics, as an industry we're probably at the beginning of a really good national branded era for retailer brands," Henry said.

"The perceptions of those brands are better than ever and the footprint of the retailer is pressing on, so it will be very interesting to watch the curve over time in the South African market."

Five players

He broke the Wal-Mart deal down into the five parties that it would most affect: customers, the government, suppliers, competitors and manufacturers.

He praised the actions of Wal-Mart in regard to each of the parties, and was particularly effusive when discussing manufacturers.

"The relationship between the manufacturer and Wal-Mart, from what I've heard, they've engaged very early to discuss what the rules of engagement will be, how they want to do business and so forth. It's a very ethical way to go about it.

"They're a very, very ethical business. They might be quite firm and they might be quite hard, but they're incredibly ethical about how they go about things," Henry said.

Potent partnership

He also warned competitors that the Wal-Mart/Massmart partnership would be a potent one as Massmart was just as business savvy as Wal-Mart, which was probably one of the reasons why Wal-Mart chose to partner with them.

Henry, however, cautioned that some learning did need to be undertaken by parties for Wal-Mart's entrance to benefit them.

"The bottom line is that it will probably go ahead. It's going to be good for the industry. It will be good for all of us in the room if we understand how to manage it well."