Big shake up for South African consumers
South African consumers are altering their behaviours to deal with the changes caused by load shedding.
TrendER/infoQuest, an online research provider in South Africa, has released its second report on the various effects that load shedding has had on South Africans.
The study is based on interviews with 300 respondents aged 18 or over across all of South Africa’s nine provinces.
The study found substantial changes in grocery shopping and preparing meals.
Roughly three in four consumers are purchasing fewer groceries more often to reduce the amount of food waste.
Moreover, 67% said that the types of meals that they prepare are changing dramatically.
48% of respondents also said that they eat out more due to not being able to cook during load shedding.
Moreover, load shedding has also negatively affected the performance of children in school, with 40% of parents saying that their children’s performance has declined due to their inability to study or do homework due to a lack of power.
Security is another issue during load shedding, with more than half of the respondents taking extra security measures to ensure that their families are safe.
Mogorosi Mashilo, MD of TrendER/infoQuest, said that South Africans are having to spend more to minimise the effects of load shedding.
“This puts strain on the consumer in an already tough economic climate. Marketers also need to take note of the changes in consumer behaviour and shopping habits that are becoming more evident. All of these factors contribute to the “new normal” of the South African consumer in an environment that appears to be here to stay for the foreseeable future,” Mashilo said.
Consumers also believe that load shedding will stick around for the next year, with nearly 60% believing that it will get worse over the next year.
Despite the negative sentiment, 30% of South Africans still believe that the energy crisis will improve in the next year.
12% of interviewees believed that load shedding will likely remain the same for the next 12 months.
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