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NAB identifies consumer spend on products and lifestyle activities

21 Oct 2004

A vast number of consumers' monthly spending goes to amenities and items like home security services, domestic employees and cellular-related services, as well as monthly food and groceries, says John Bowles, Joint Managing Director of the Newspaper Advertising Bureau (NAB).

Bowles adds that consumers are venturing out of their homes to find the best and most convenient buys, according to NAB's retail and readership research, ROOTS 2004, which looks at where consumers are doing their shopping for a wide variety of goods.

ROOTS 2004 is an extensive survey, using face-to-face interviews in 58 areas across all nine provinces. Purchasing decision makers (PDMs), were questioned from Alberton all the way through to Polokwane, on their readership, activities and purchasing habits. The research findings from the survey have highlighted the dramatic differences between suburbs. Areas that are easily assumed to be similar have proven to be very different in demographics, shopping habits or even purchasing activities.

Findings include:

For example, 32% of PDMs in Pretoria East have dishwashers, 93% of PDMs in the Northcliff/ Melville area have a Hi-Fi or music centre. PDMs in the Sandton area have the highest percentage of home security services (79%) and also the highest percentage of households with a full-time domestic worker (68%). 82% of Pretoria East PDMs have a Telkom home telephone.

39% of Fourways PDMs have bought books in the past 12 months, making Fourways PDMs our national bookworms. But, not only do Fourways PDMs read a lot, they also visit the casino more often than anyone else (47%). Just across the highway, Sandton PDMs are the most likely to be square-eyed, as 73% of their households have an M-Net/ DSTV subscription. Those who aren't in front of the box are possibly sitting at their computer, with 75% of Sandton households having personal computers at home.

Pretoria Centurion displays the highest number of PDMs who have cellphones (92%), with 60% of these being on a contract. The leading network provider across the survey is Vodacom. Market shares do however differ by area. MTN has its highest market share in Empangeni (54%), and Cell C's best performing area is Chatsworth (22%). A prepaid connection is the more popular option while 83% of Pretoria Central's PDMs prefer to pay-as-they-go type of subscription.

85% of Kempton Park PDMs use e-mail at least once a week. However, this is not the place where most Internet surfing occurs. 84% of Pretoria Moot PDMs are accessing the Net once a week or more often.

41% of Pretoria Mamelodi PDMs have looked for or bought indoor and/or outdoor furniture in the past six months. Only 22% of Benoni PDMs have browsed for or purchased audio-visual equipment and/or large or small appliances in the past six months.

In the past year, 26% of Sandton PDMs have flown overseas, while 34% have taken a domestic flight. 10% of Pretoria East PDMs bought a brand new vehicle, which is more than double the average (4%). 22% of Pretoria Centurion PDMs have gone digital and bought new DVD players.

Colonel Sanders' secret recipe is still working; KFC was the most frequented take-away outlet in the past month, with 51% of all Gauteng PDMs buying themselves original recipe chicken. Kempton Park showed the least interest in cinema; only 37% of PDMs have been to the movies in the past month.

79% of Johannesburg North Eastern PDMs are frugal with their money and have savings or investments in a banking institution or building society. Not only do 22% of Pretoria East PDMs have savings or investments in an investment company, but 12% also have investments on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

In conclusion, although they are geographically similar, neighbouring suburbs do not have too many purchasing activities in common. It is obvious that the purchasing of highly priced items does not happen exclusively in the most affluent areas. It is also clear from the ROOTS data that the more discerning, time-pressured consumer is convenience-focused and very comfortable with shopping close to home.

For further information on NAB's Roots survey, visit www.nab.co.za.

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NAB identifies consumer spend on products and lifestyle activities

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