Background: South African townships have a vibrant small retailing business which at some point was dominated by local traders. However, in recent times, the country has attracted migrants who are very competitive in the township retailing space.Aim: This study seeks to identify the challenges facing local small business retailers in the township retailing environments and then develop a business intervention model for traders to improve.Setting: Primary research was conducted in two townships of Cape Town -Delft and Eindhoven. Methods:The population of the study comprised two groups, namely, South African and foreign national small business retailers operating grocery retailer stores. The first group consisted of 55 South African small business retailers while the second group consisted of 75 migrant small business retailers. A random sample was targeted from each group and the quantitative research methodology was used in this study using a structured questionnaire with close-ended questions as a research instrument. Results:The results showed growth of foreign national retailers and decline in the number of the local retailers in the two townships. The study showed that migrant retailers have a competitive edge over local retailers. The study also revealed that most local traders have a lower level of education compared to their migrant trader counterparts. Conclusion:The local small business retailer requires targeted support from the government as suggested in the business intervention model proposed in this study.

No abstract available.

This study aims to identify the core competitive factors that differentiate migrant owned small business retail stores from those that are owned by South African citizens. Primary research was conducted in two of Cape Town's townships, Delft and Eindhoven. Data was collected through focus group interviews with open-ended questions. The findings revealed that South African citizen retailer's lack funding to start or expand their businesses, they do not collaborate among themselves, and they lack pricing strategy. The findings also revealed that migrant small business retailers have strong business networks that enable them to collaborate in a number of business-related issues such as the buying of stock and they have networks that help them raise finance for their businesses. The researcher notes that there are agencies such as the Small Business Development Agency (SEDA) that aim to help Small and Medium Enterprises (SMME's) but such agencies deal with all types of SMME's. There is a need for a targeted support for the small business retail sector as it is a very unique sector in the South African small business market. The challenges faced by local small business retailers are unique when compared to those faced by their migrant trader counterparts. The foreign national small business retailers are more competitive than local South African small business retailers in the township retailing sector. The study recommends that the South African government department of Small Business Development should assist the South African citizen owners of small retail businesses to improve their competitiveness.

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This paper is based on the study that sought to identify the core competitive factors that differentiate foreign national small business retailers from local South African small business retailers in the way they operate their small retailing businesses. Primary research was conducted in two of Cape Town’s (South Africa) townships, Delft and Eindhoven. The population of the study comprised two groups, namely, South African and foreign national small business retailers operating grocery retailer stores. The first group consisted of 55 South African small business retailers while the second group consisted of 75 migrant small business retailers. A random sample was targeted from each group and the quantitative research methodology was used in this study using a structured questionnaire with close-ended questions. The results showed growth of foreign national retailers and decline in the number of the local retailers in the two townships. The study showed that migrant retailers have a competitive edge over local retailers. The study also revealed that most local traders have a lower level of education compared to their migrant trader counterparts. Furthermore, the study revealed that most of local small business retailers have never had a business finance mentor in their entire trading life. The study revealed that there is a need for a targeted funding model for potential and current local small business retailers. The study proposes a three-stage business intervention model to assist South African small business retailers to become more competitive in township retailing environments.