African Consumer Market Research Articles

Do Demographics Matter in Childhood Attitudes on Materialism? Understanding South African Tween Consumers

Purpose: This study examined materialism among South African tweens. The goal of the study was to determine whether demographic differences such as age, gender, and socioeconomic status have a bearing on children’s attitudes to materialism. Theoretical Framework: Scholarly interest into childhood materialism has been concerned with how materialism develops, how it is sustained and the effects of materialism. The current study hypothesises that age, gender and socioeconomic class have an influence on children’s attitudes on material happiness, material success, and material centrality as first- order constructs for materialism, and consequently, how they have an influence on materialism. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted a quantitative methodology, with a self-administered questionnaire as the data collection instrument. An adapted 9-item Material Values Scale for children (MVS-c) was used to measure material centrality, material happiness and material success as first-order factors for materialism. Data were collected from a sample of 192 school children aged 10 to 14. Structural equation modelling was used to validate the scale while the independent samples t-test and ANOVA were used to assess the demographic differences. Findings: The results revealed that there are gender differences in tweens’ attitudes towards materialism but no age and socioeconomic differences. The results also revealed that demographic differences exist regarding some of the materialism factors but not others. The study overall found that demographics have a limited influence on children’s attitudes regarding materialism. Research, Practical & Social implications: The study offers a glimpse into the minds of South African tweens regarding their materialistic values. The paper enriches the literature on childhood materialism by bringing perspectives from cultures other than the West, which has dominated much of the knowledge on child consumers. Originality/value: Materialism in children has been examined in various social science disciplines from a variety of perspectives. However, much of the studies have been on Western child consumers, largely ignoring African children. This is despite the fact that the African consumer market has grown steadily over the years. This study contributes to the conceptualisation of childhood materialism in an African context.

Новая стратегия России на африканском направлении

This article critically reviews the previous and the still existing scholarship that promotes skeptical and arrogant approach to the debate on Russia’s economic cooperation with Africa. It problematizes prevailing conceptualizations, addresses methodological difficulties of data analysis, scrutinizes theoretical references in past argumentations and political actions in this respect. As an alternative to negative approaches prevailing in the 1990s and early 2000s, the authors suggest to cease neglecting the window of opportunities opened by dynamic nature of the rapidly developing African economies. Time is ripe for launching and implementing a New Strategy of economic cooperation with Africa. The article provides an analysis of the accumulated experience of Soviet-African cooperation. It demonstrates the available possibilities of reaping benefit from its use for the purposes of strengthening Russia’s economic and political positions on the African continent to achieve the announced goals of becoming one of the five largest economies in the world, ensuring high rates of economic growth, and creating in the basic sectors of the economy, particularly in manufacturing and agriculture, a highly productive export-oriented sector, based on modern technologies and fully provided with highly qualified personnel. The authors posit that in the existing conditions it is almost impossible to complete this ambitious task without interacting with African market. Russian industry undergoes a long awaited but still tentative revival. Emerging and developing countries, particularly burgeoning African economies, which offer an ever increasing demand, currently offer welcoming environment for testing the quality and competitiveness of Russian manufacturing goods. China selected this path in the 1990s, successfully taking over the share of the rapidly growing African consumer market vacated by Russia. However, it is not only and not so much an increase in mutual trade that Africa awaits from Russia, not even cooperation in mining, but investments in other strategic industries and sectors of the economy, such as energy generation, infrastructure construction, particularly transport related infrastructure projects like highways and road construction, railways, airports and maritime ports development, processing and manufacturing, sectors of advanced technological knowledge and skills application. Acknowledgements. The article was prepared as part of the Basic Research Program of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences for 2019 № 22 “Analysis and Forecast of New Global Challenges for Russia”, Subprogram “Africa in New Global Realities: Challenges and Opportunities for Russia”.

Korea's Engagement Opportunities with the African Consumer Market Through Industrial Zones

Unlike previous discussions on Africa that have focused on its commodities, recent focus has shifted to the potential of Africa's consumer market. Africa's remarkable economic growth and a population of 12 billion, which continues to expand in line with urbanization, has encouraged the development of the middle-income class. The increasing number of modern retail stores and supermarkets in the major cities illustrate the growth of Africa's consumer market. Yet, Africa's consumer market remains fragmented because of the poor logistical infrastructure, complex trade regulations, and political hostilities that limit trade between countries. As a result, inter-Africa trade remains at 12% of Africa's total trade while that of Western Europe and the Asia Pacific is at 61% and 39% respectively. Moreover, the majority of manufactured goods are imported because there is a lack of skills, equipment and knowledge as well and land ownership issues among other factors. The influx of cheap imported goods across a wide range of industries covering textiles, plastics, machinery, electronics, construction materials and others have also hindered the growth of the manufacturing sector in Africa because of its low cost competitiveness. Despite the merits of engaging with Africa, the trade volume between Korea and Africa has remained minuscule because of geographical and logistical barriers. Against this background, utilizing industrial zones in Africa would be an effective way for Korea to engage directly with the African consumer market. Eastern Africa, Ethiopia in particular, should be prioritized as an entry point because of its relative political stability, improving business environment and intensity of intra-regional trade. In terms of focus industries, although agriculture, textiles and minerals are the most consumed and exported items yet in Africa, Korea should prioritize production of machinery, petro-chemical products and non-mineral goods because better competitiveness in these areas. China has taken an aggressive stance by creating large-scale independently funded industrial zones exclusively for Chinese firms. However, Korea should take care in its approach to utilizing industrial zones. Operational and effective industrial zones are still limited to Morocco, Ethiopia and Mauritius because land regulations are unclear and the number of experts to plan and operate industrial zones are few. Corruption is another issue that needs to be addressed. Therefore, collaborating with local governments in planning and utilizing industrial zones would be necessary to minimize the dangers.

Internet Banking Adoption in South Africa: The Mediating Role of Consumer Readiness

The recent rapid development of Internet banking (IB) around the world is not without certain challenges. For instance while a majority of banking SSTs (Self Service Technologies, e.g. ATMs and debit cards) have been well received by the South African market, consumers seem sceptical towards Internet banking. This paper seeks to test various conceptual frameworks of consumer adoption patterns of IB with the view of a framework with the greatest explanatory power for the South African market. To achieve the stated objective of a framework for IB adoption in South Africa, this paper suggests an approach not yet undertaken, according to the literature review conducted, within the South African retail banking industry – investigating a comparison of the predictive efficacy of two common groupings of variables most cited in the consumer behaviour literature as important determinants of adoptive behaviour in SSTs. These are: perceptions of innovation characteristics and consumer readiness (CR) variables. Therefore, the primary objective of this article is the consideration of this gap within the body of knowledge around South African consumers’ IB adoption behaviour. Through a descriptive quantitative analysis of 1516 large sample size, innovation characteristics as consumer’s perceptions (complexity, perceived risk notably) or views (endogenous variables) were found with greatest predictive power over IB adoption, in the South African consumer market context. This finding is therefore for marketers (particularly in South Africa) a set of useful tools that can be relevant to promote the adoption of IB.

Internet Banking Adoption in South Africa: The Mediating Role of Consumer Readiness

The recent rapid development of Internet banking (IB) around the world is not without certain challenges. For instance while a majority of banking SSTs (Self Service Technologies, e.g. ATMs and debit cards) have been well received by the South African market, consumers seem sceptical towards Internet banking. This paper seeks to test various conceptual frameworks of consumer adoption patterns of IB with the view of a framework with the greatest explanatory power for the South African market. To achieve the stated objective of a framework for IB adoption in South Africa, this paper suggests an approach not yet undertaken, according to the literature review conducted, within the South African retail banking industry – investigating a comparison of the predictive efficacy of two common groupings of variables most cited in the consumer behaviour literature as important determinants of adoptive behaviour in SSTs. These are: perceptions of innovation characteristics and consumer readiness (CR) variables. Therefore, the primary objective of this article is the consideration of this gap within the body of knowledge around South African consumers’ IB adoption behaviour. Through a descriptive quantitative analysis of 1516 large sample size, innovation characteristics as consumer’s perceptions (complexity, perceived risk notably) or views (endogenous variables) were found with greatest predictive power over IB adoption, in the South African consumer market context. This finding is therefore for marketers (particularly in South Africa) a set of useful tools that can be relevant to promote the adoption of IB.

Africa 2020: An Indian Perspective

The African consumer market is expected to grow to more than US$ 400 billion by 2020. Another big driver in this market is Africa is the world's fastest growing population that would account for more than 40% of the population growth by 2030 as per the UN studies. This market is going to have the world's youngest population that is emerging as an optimistic consuming class with an estimated 45 million households being added in the group having discretionary income by 2020. Global investors are also seeing Africa as the next opportunity horizon as six of the world's fastest growing economies in the last decade were from Africa. Entrepreneurs have several incubators all over the African continent. Added to this is the fact that Africa has embraced a lot of technologies quiet readily and quickly. This will hasten international business opportunities in this continent. The mega cities like Cairo, Johannesburg and Lagos are now giving way to the faster growing middleweight cities like Abidjan, Khartoum and Rabat. India's bilateral trade with Africa touched US$ 60 billion that is a 20 fold increase in little over a decade. India has always had a stakeholder interest in Africa's sustained prosperity as seen in the trade that provides a lifeline to African societies. This paper looks at how Indian companies are translating the growth opportunity into action.

An Exploratory Study on the Marketing Strategies Adopted by Small Micro and Medium Enterprises in Johannesburg Central Business District

Over the years marketing theory development has been limited and small enterprises often have to rely on marketing models used in big businesses. There are a number of marketing strategies that are currently applied by large companies in South Africa which cannot be implemented by small retailers. This is because of the complexity of some of the marketing strategies alluded above are not suited to small retailers because of their limited educational background and resources. Facing the problem of intense competition, SMME entrepreneurs often have to rely on price and other short term strategies to market and sell their products to the ultimate consumer. Entrepreneurs are constantly faced with challenges that restrict their productivity and economic potential. SMMEs face the challenge of marketing their products and services properly to the right markets in order to get returns from their investments. The data for the study was collected by means of interviews. The study used a judgemental sampling. Findings from the study prove that entrepreneurs rely on word of mouth, reducing prices and other low cost promotional strategies for marketing and sale purposes. The findings indicate that it might be useful for SMME’s to change their promotional strategies to suit the South African consumer market to ensure long term profitability. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n25p118

From local to grobal, and back

This is a case study of Vlisco, a Dutch textile printing company since 1846 that produces batik cloth for the West African consumer market. We focus on the changing status of batik cloth in West Africa and related shifts in the relations of Vlisco with its consumers and local trade partners over a period of almost two centuries. We conclude that in the long run, globalisation does not necessarily result in the transformation of authentic and locally conceived products into empty mass products, and even if it does, in time the process can change direction.

Impact of Country-of-Origin and Price on Product’s Advertisement Efficacy

The objective of this study is to assess the effect that country-of-origin and price have on efficacy of advertisements for a product. The African population has noticeably not featured much in country-of-origin research in spite of the growing size and complexity of the African consumer market. Country-of-origin refers to the country of manufacture, production, or growth where an article or product comes from. In realizing the goals for which it was set to achieve, this experimental study ascertained the influence of country-of-origin and price on advertisement efficacy involving an African population sample. Six hundred female and male undergraduates (with mean age = 23.02; SD= 3.2 years) were randomly drawn from a large university, to view a product advertisement that uniquely manipulated country-of-origin and price for a fictitious brand of insecticide named Antisect. Data analysis was done using one-way analysis of variance. It was found that individually and collectively, country-of-origin and price did affect advertisement efficacy significantly. It was concluded that advertisers need to consider product's country- of-origin and product's price when developing successful advertisement campaigns. Beyond advertisements, country- of-origin and price also matter to buyers and consumers of products.

CHANGING PATTERNS OF SOUTH AFRICAN INCOME DISTRIBUTION: TOWARDS TIME SERIES ESTIMATES OF DISTRIBUTION AND POVERTY1

Research on income distribution in South Africa has, for obvious reasons, focused on interracial (inter-group) income distribution. Quite dramatic changes have occurred in interracial income distribution patterns since the 1970s, with the black share of income rising for the first time and at times exceeding the rise in their population share. This implies a narrowing inter-racial income gap. Data on income distribution remain scarce, so that it remains difficult to obtain the full picture about changes in income distribution. In particular, widening inequality within the black population has received much attention. Rises in black unemployment and in black wages have had inequality-inducing effects on black incomes. Is maldistribution of income between races now making way for maldistribution of income within race groups? Put differently, is inequality shifting from inter-group to intra-group inequality (from between group to within group inequality)? This paper pieces together information from various sources of data (censuses, household surveys, marketing surveys, published wage data series, etc.) to inform estimates of interand intra-group distribution over a longer time frame, in an effort to improve analysis of income inequality and poverty trends. These income distribution patterns also have considerable implications for the growth and evolution of the South African consumer market.

A Crumbling Legacy: The Decline of African American Insurance Companies in Contemporary America

African American insurance companies, since the 1960s, have experienced a significant decline in their profitability and stature. Because of recent racial desegregation, which in an economic sense consists of white-controlled businesses and black consumers increasing their interaction with each other, black insurers are waging an increasingly difficult struggle to survive. It appears the only way African American insurance companies can counteract this disturbing trend is to voluntarily merge into one “mega” company. Such a maneuver would empower consolidated black insurers to better serve African American consumers and to make definitive inroads in cultivating the burgeoning African consumer market.

A consumer perspective of the South African red meat classification system

The South African consumer market is characterised by socio-economic and cultural diversity. Food expenditure patterns, behaviour and preferences differ significantly between the various socio-economic sub-groups. Packaging information, including red meat classification information, could be an important tangible resource used by consumers to gauge product quality. The first objective of the research reported in this paper is to investigate the red meat knowledge, usage and perceptions regarding beef and sheep meat classification and related quality parameters among South African consumers. Consumer perceptions of red meat classification were extracted from a comprehensive consumer survey among stratified representative samples of South African low-, middle- and high-income consumers (n = 165, n = 171 and n = 249). The paper also briefly reports on an in-store ‘observational’ research project that was conducted to develop an understanding of the communication of carcass classification to consumers through fresh red meat product labels at independent butchers and large retailers across South Africa (n = 60). Low-income consumers had very limited understanding and gave little attention to red meat classification. Even though middle-class and wealthy consumers also have a limited understanding of red meat classification, about half of these consumers check for a classification mark. Red meat classification was not mentioned by consumers as a major concern regarding red meat, but related aspects were important such as quality, fattiness, tenderness, juiciness, taste, freshness, smell and appearance. Purchase considerations for beef and mutton/lamb focussed largely on safety, appearance, price and eating quality. Labelling information observed at retail outlets gave very little attention to classification. There is a definite need for consumer education relating to the red meat classification system and for the development of an appropriate front-of-pack labelling system to communicate red meat classification.Keywords: Beef, high-income, knowledge, labelling information, lamb, low-income, middle-income, mutton, perceptions