There is a disconnect between what businesses believe drives repeat purchases and what motivates consumers to buy the same product more than once. This is according to the sixth South African Customer Experience Report.
South African consumers have cited reliability as the main reason they consistently buy particular products or use certain services, with pricing being a secondary factor; while businesses believe customers are buying from them because they trust them.
The report — compiled by Amanda Reekie, founder of research tool Ovatoyou; Julia Ahlfeldt, founder of Julia Ahlfeldt Customer Experience Consulting; and Charlie Stewart, CEO of digital agency Rogerwilco — surveyed more than 2,000 consumers and 75 business executives.
It found that 71% of the respondents prioritised reliability and accessibility over pricing.
“Reliability is a catch-all term and, simply put, means that a brand or business delivers what they promised they would. In these fast-paced, tight-budgeted times, it is no wonder that this is the key attribute sought — the knowledge that the consumer will get what they are expecting for their hard-earned rand,” the report stated.
It found that while 79% of consumers use loyalty programmes across the country, only 42% consistently bought from the same shop because of its reward scheme. This showed a 6% decline from last year when 48% of consumers indicated they repeatedly bought from certain establishments due to loyalty programmes.
On customer satisfaction, the report revealed that 80% of consumers in the retail sector were satisfied or extremely satisfied with the services they received. This included services in the beauty and personal care sector, restaurants, and clothing and fashion industries. It showed that in these categories, people were willing to pay more for products, as they received satisfactory customer service.
In contrast, there was a significant increase in the number of participants who were extremely unhappy with service delivery in the public sector. According to the report, 62% of participants expressed dissatisfaction with services received from the healthcare sector.
There were also challenges in the automotive and insurance industries.
Meanwhile, 88% of the businesses that participated in the research said consumers were extremely satisfied with the services they received in these sectors, revealing another disconnect.
Rogerwilco’s Stewart, a co-author of the report, said these contrasting data sets bring into question whether businesses are in touch with the customers.
“Are managers — particularly in the poorer-performing sectors — spending enough time on the shop floor? For incisive feedback, face-to-face interaction beats an emailed survey hands down,” said Stewart.
Businesses have an opportunity to take advantage of price increases in sectors where consumers are willing to pay more for products due to satisfactory customer service, he said.
Meanwhile, the report found that there was a slight decrease in the number of online shoppers compared to 2023. About 86% of participants said they used online shopping, a decline from the 88% in the same period in 2023.
While there was no growth in the number of consumers making online purchases, there was an increase in the frequency at which the same customer bought products online. Up to 49% of consumers said they made frequent online purchases in a month, compared to 43% in 2023.
The report also found there was a growing trend in what it described as “super shoppers”.
“Super shoppers, who are the main and consistent online buyers, are black, urban dwelling females aged between 25-34 with a household income of more than R30,000,” said the study.
When analysing the demographics, it found that the emerging middle class, people earning between R12,644 and R30,000, are less likely to make online purchases. This was due to the impact of higher interest rates on this group of consumers.
Reviews on company websites and social media continued to be an important source of information for consumers, influencing what they ended up buying. The report found that 64% of respondents used social media platforms to consult reviews and recommendations regarding which products to buy, even if the purchase was eventually made in a store.
It also showed that after consumers received a satisfactory product, 64% said they would post a review, either on the company website or on social media, while 48% would take their dissatisfaction to social media should they be unhappy with a product.
Co-author Ahlfeldt said TikTok emerged as the social media platform becoming significantly important to consumers, ultimately influencing online and offline sales. However, the study found that many businesses did not use the platform for advertising or getting a sense of customer experiences with their products.
“The landscape of customer touchpoints is constantly changing. Whether they like it or not, brands need to accept that their experience offering needs to evolve with customer preferences. Just when brands thought that they had a handle on all of the major social media channels, TikTok came along. Fad or not, CX (customer experience) might not want to risk being left behind,” said Ahlfeldt.
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