{"id":390073,"date":"2020-04-16T12:10:52","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T10:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=390073"},"modified":"2020-04-16T13:03:59","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T11:03:59","slug":"this-map-shows-how-grocery-shopping-has-changed-in-south-africa-during-lockdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/390073\/this-map-shows-how-grocery-shopping-has-changed-in-south-africa-during-lockdown\/","title":{"rendered":"This map shows how grocery shopping has changed in South Africa during lockdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Data analytics company Lightstone has published a new report outlining South African grocery shopping patterns during the coronavirus lockdown.<\/p>\n

The group noted that under normal\u00a0(non-lockdown) circumstances, consumers choose shopping destinations based partly on their normal daily movements and convenience of proximity to work, schools or home.<\/p>\n

During lockdown, however, shopping behaviour has changed – with most South Africans staying at home it is fair to assume that they will not only choose to shop for essential items closest to their home but opt for a store that they can spend less time at, avoiding larger shopping centres, the group said.<\/p>\n

Using aggregated and anonymised vehicle movement data from Tracker, Lightstone’s found that on average, shopping centres that have a grocery store had 66% fewer trips during the first week of lockdown when compared to a typical week before the lockdown.<\/p>\n

“Prior to lockdown, major shopping centres were averaging 16.6 million trips in a six-day period, however, the first six days of lockdown saw this number drop dramatically to only 5.7 million trips, with provincial differences ranging from -59% (Eastern Cape) to -68% (Western Cape),” said Linda Reid, head of Data at Lightstone.<\/p>\n

“Further analysis of the data showed that not all shopping centres with grocery store presence dropped by the same amount, and there is a definite shift of activity towards convenience shopping centres that are closer to residential areas than those located in business districts,” she said.<\/p>\n

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The map below explains this in more detail. Lightstone’s analysis looked at what portion each shopping centre received of the province\u2019s visits before the lockdown, versus the share of the province\u2019s (reduced) visits after lockdown.<\/p>\n