Insights into the impacts of and responses to COVID-19 pandemic: The South African food retail supply chains perspective

Abstract

Background: With the observed cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in South Africa, coupled with varying levels of national lockdowns, food retail supply chains in South Africa were adversely affected. The pandemic affected international travel, global logistics, supplier production and stockpiles at the supply end, which resulted in shortages at retailers and increased prices for basic food items.Objectives: The purpose of this article was to provide insights into and a synthesis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food retail supply chain models in South Africa.Method: A general review of both academic and grey literature (including commentaries) was studied to draw insights into the issues of food retail supply chain. This was combined with an examination of websites and annual reports of the major food retailers in South Africa to find their responses to the pandemic related to their supply chains.Results: It was found that the investment in supply chains and local supply development and the technology by the large food retailers in the country have paid off in the ways that they have been able to respond to and contain the shocks of the pandemic and point to the local versus the international when thinking about new supply chain models for the post-COVID-19 world.Conclusion: The insights drawn from this article may be useful in building more resilient food retail supply chains in the South African context. This article charts a way for more focused analyses using empirical data to thresh out more nuanced insights that will benefit the food retail supply chain and create a more resilient food system in South Africa.

Evaluating and Predicting the Long-Term Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Manufacturing Sales within South Africa

“…The results of the study reveal a significant decline in South African manufacturing sales after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic lockdowns that followed. This finding aligns with those of [16], which concluded a decline in SA's food retail sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Figure 10 proposes a supply chain resilience framework to guide the transformation/recovery and adaptation efforts.…”

“…In their study, ref. [16] examined the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on food retail supply chain models in SA. To gain insight into the challenges facing the food retail supply chain, the authors conducted a comprehensive review of the academic literature.…”

Food Retail Resilience Pre-, during, and Post-COVID-19: A Bibliometric Analysis and Research Agenda

“…Pre-COVID-19 [21][22][23][24][25][26][27] During COVID-19 [10][11][12]14,[16][17][18][21][22][23][24] Post-COVID-19 [14,24,39,66,75,[78][79][80] Studies on the pandemic period are of great importance as they provide insight into how the pandemic has affected different aspects of society. The studies mentioned above highlight some key areas that have been the focus of research during the pandemic, including price changes [32,36,38,65], policy implications [40,48,49,55], food safety [17,30,43], and consumer behaviors [12,71,81].…”

Supply Chain Response during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multiple-Case Study

“…Giotopoulos et al [15] studied the response of small and medium-sized enterprises through the use of digital information to the disruptions caused by COVID-19 to the SC. Omoruyi et al [16] stated that major food retailer investment in the SC, local supplier development, and technology facilitated the response to the effects of COVID-19 in South Africa. Meanwhile, Ramanathan et al [17] proposed 15 strategies to food, sports, and fashion SC managers for facilitating the response before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic.…”