Abstract
Changes in retail patronage in the South African retailing environment since the advent of democracy in 1994 need to be further researched. Various factors have played a role in making the South African retail environment the dynamic place it is. Some of the major changes include the new retail planning that has occurred since democracy and the effect it has had on the disadvantaged black township areas. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of inshopping and outshopping as special instances of retail patronage in the Soweto township. Soweto was chosen for the study because it is one of the largest disadvantaged townships in South Africa. Both exploratory and descriptive research designs were used in the study. A disproportionate stratified sample was selected and interviewed, consisting of 690 households spread over 11 subareas of Soweto. It was found that there is a marked difference between the profiles of in- and out-shoppers living in Soweto. Some of the findings correlate with the findings in other countries of the world, but there are also a number of major differences. South African retailers should take cognisance of these differences and adapt their retailing strategies accordingly. Key words: Retail patronage, inshopping, outshopping, Soweto.
Highlights
Retail development has been the catalyst in the upgrading of various economically and socially depressed areas in the world, resulting in improved social cohesion and safer living environments (Guo and Wang, 2009)
The lack of planned retail development in these townships before 1994 greatly fuelled the outshopping activities of consumers from traditionally black residential areas to the regional shopping malls and central city shopping areas in South Africa. This was confirmed by a study conducted in 2004 in Soweto, which indicated that Sowetan households at that time spent only 25% of their retail expenditure at retail outlets situated in the townships, while 75% was spent on outshopping activities (Kloppers, 2009)
Having examined the reasons for inshopping and outshopping and indicated that there was a major shift in patronage behaviour in the township areas towards buying inside the townships, we will look at empirical research on inshopping and outshopping patterns in Soweto to determine whether the retail patronage patterns found in Soweto duplicate those of other countries discussed previously
Summary
Changes in retail patronage in the South African retailing environment since the advent of democracy in 1994 need to be further researched. Some of the major changes include the new retail planning that has occurred since democracy and the effect it has had on the disadvantaged black township areas. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of inshopping and outshopping as special instances of retail patronage in the Soweto township. Soweto was chosen for the study because it is one of the largest disadvantaged townships in South Africa. Both exploratory and descriptive research designs were used in the study. South African retailers should take cognisance of these differences and adapt their retailing strategies
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