Recession has altered the way in which South Africans are shopping both on and offline. The latest "Poverty Trends in South Africa" report from Stats SA revealed that 30 million people have been living in poverty in country since 2015. The result of this, according to researchers at Nielsen, is that “people are reverting to local as they're not willing to travel to supermarkets due to the rising cost of transport”. Another impact of the countrywide recession is that consumers are changing the way they shop by buying “smaller pack sizes to get to the affordable price point” or buying in bulk when they can afford it. Additionally, online research of products had increased, with many consumers “actively doing pre-shopping research” to find the best value items before shopping in-store.Â
