Opportunity ahead for the South Africa consumer

Retail

Coronavirus accelerated many trends that were already present in South Africa; for example, it is credited with driving a decade’s worth of progress in a year. Even with the global pandemic, the retail landscape in South Africa has always moved and changed at its own pace and with its own rules making it difficult to navigate.

Now, we are seeing consumers exhibit behaviour changes in living, cooking, working, education, shopping, and entertainment. Some of these changes will ebb away as we move into a sense of normality, but some habits will remain permanent.

NielsenIQ research uncovered that in a financial hardship scenario, six areas were identified in which consumers have increased or decreased spending:

Consumers now dictate how brands make decisions

With consumers now driving spend in South Africa, there are implications on how brands should respond:

CPG companies need to stay close to the changes brought about by the pandemic, using data to understand which categories are growing (region/channel)
Using category trends and insights to identify which categories that CPG companies don’t need to play in
CPG companies must consider how to make themselves a frictionless choice as markets change and shift

As global marketplaces adjust to a world of blended COVID-19 impacts, emerging trends point to one unifying element that seems to matter now more than ever: the shopper experience. Understanding the needs and shifting conditions of your consumer and addressing them with key data is the only strategy forward.

See a detailed breakdown of how we can help you understand the South African consumer. 