Latest SA Web User survey results released

The 2005 study was pushed into March 2006 due to demand for the data to remain current throughout the year. The first study was conducted in November 1999, and year-on-year data is available up to November 2004.

The interviews were conducted by means of the computer-aided telephonic interviewing process. A random sample of people was contacted from the telephone directory. The result of this randomness was a hit rate of 0.46 successful interviews per hour.

Potential respondents had to be at least 18 years of age and had to access the World Wide Web (that is, not email only) at least once a month, either at home and/or at work in order to be included in the sample. No quota controls were exercised on gender and on race. The survey was conducted in the major metropolitan areas of Gauteng, Cape Town and Durban - 56%, 33% and 11% respectively.

Summary of key findings

Demographic profile of South African web users, 18 years and older, residing in the major metropolitan areas of South Africa:

• Age: Almost half of South African Web users are between the ages of 25 and 44 years. Having said this, it is also true that there has been an increase in users over the age of 55.
• Language: The majority of South African Web users are English-speaking.
• Gender: The ratio for females versus males is approximately 60/40.
• Monthly household income: The average monthly household income earned is just over R13 000, which is down from previous years.
• Stage in life cycle: The number of people with children in the home has increased from 41% in 2001 to 53% in 2006. On average, these people have two children.
• Level of education: In line with previous findings, two-fifths of SA web users, 18 years and older, residing in the major metropolitan areas of South Africa, have either completed university or have some other form of post-matric qualification.
• Work category: The ratio of people working in the computer industry or IT professionals has decreased from 2000.
• Own business: 27% of Web users have their own business. Of these people, 40% are one-man shows. Seven out of ten businesses are run from home.
• Technographic profile: One-fifth of SA web user see themselves as technologically advanced.

• 45% of the sample have web access at home only and 25% at work only, with 31% who have access at both home and work.
• The number of days the web is accessed per month has showed a slight upward curve from 2002 amongst home users.
• The web was accessed 16.8 days a month on average at home in April 2006 (compared to 14.4 days on average in 2002). Thirty-seven percent of home users access the web every day at home.
• At work, the web is accessed 23 days a month on average (basically every working day).
• Home users spend an average of 5.8 hours online per week and work users 7.4 hours per week. People generally do not spend much more time online than in previous years. The change in the sample profile should be borne in mind.
• On average, home as well as work users got connected just over three and a half years ago.
• South African web users use the Internet most for searching for specific information and sending and receiving email.

The mobile market:

• 97% of SA web users have a cellphone.
• Of those people who have a cellphone:
  • 72% have Nokia phones, followed by Samsung (21%, up from 11% in 2004).
  • 58% use Vodacom, 39% MTN and 15% Cell C as their service provider.
  • 30% use prepaid (a decline from 44% in 2003), 64% a contract and 6% use both.
  • 79% are responsible for paying their own bill.
  • 75% use their cellphone for sending SMS messages.

• In terms of devices that people have, the number of people with DStv has increased from 28% in 2000 to 53% in 2006 (89% of SA web users have a television).

• Overall, 50% of people who access the WWW at least once a month have bought online before, which has increased from 26% in 2000.
• More males than females have bought online before.
• More people in the higher income bracket have bought online before.
• The majority of those people who have shopped online before would do so again.
• A credit card is still the most preferred way of paying for online purchases.
• The incidence of purchasing airline tickets online has increased substantially.

Banking via the Internet:

• The average percentage of people banking online has increased over the last few years (49% in 2006).
• The main types of banking transactions done online are as follows (that is, from a predetermined list of banking transactions):
  • Balance enquiries
  • Transferral of funds/inter-account transfers
  • Statements
  • Third party payments
  • Information on accounts

• Convenience is still considered to be the main advantage of Internet banking
• Approximately one-third of those people who do not currently conduct any banking transactions online claimed that 'they are scared that people might hack into the system' or that they do not think Internet banking to be very safe.

This particular project is a multi-client survey, meaning that it is open for any interested parties to buy into the survey.

For more information, contact Sandra Boer by emailing .