Nairobi — A new survey on consumer perceptions and behaviours towards brands conducted by the Madrid-based global communications agency, MARCO, revealed many people in Sub-Saharan started buying online with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and will continue to do so in the future.
The "MARCO Research: Post-Covid Consumer Behaviour" survey, was carried out in Kenya, South Africa, and the Ivory Coast from May to June 2022 with a total sample of 14,200 consumers using an online methodology with representative permission marketing-based sampling carried out by CINT.
The survey says 85 per cent of respondents in Kenya said they are regular online shoppers, 99 per cent said they will continue to do so in the future.
In Ivory Coast, 75 per cent said they are regular online shoppers with 98 per cent to continue buying online in the future. 87 per cent of respondents from South Africa are regular online shoppers, and 99 per cent reported they will continue buying online.
"Since the pandemic, we have adopted a global consciousness, inevitably reinforced by digitization. This global commitment to soft values has become a key to the brand strategy of companies, advertisers, and public institutions," said Didier Lagae, CEO of MARCO Group.
The survey found that respondents in Kenya (94 percent), Ivory Coast (63 percent), and South Africa (84 percent) respectively reported having been affected by the pandemic.
With people staying at home, TV was found to be the most reliable source of information among 79 per cent of the respondents in Kenya and 74 per cent in both the Ivory Coast and South Africa. This was followed closely by Facebook and Whatsapp.
According to the survey, brand sustainability is increasingly becoming an important factor to consider when buying a product.
In addition, survey respondents preferred a brand that is responsible as opposed to that which is trendy, as evidenced by the feedback from 85 per cent of the respondents in Kenya, 82 per cent in the Ivory Coast, and 88 per cent in South Africa.
Environmental conservation is also given prominence, with 92 per cent of respondents in South Africa preferring brands that care about the environment.
Kenya and Ivory Coast had 86 and 87 per cent respectively of the respondents rooting for environmental conservation.
"The findings from this survey reaffirm that the current consumer trends are unlikely to change any time soon, and in response to this, companies all over the world are investing heavily to meet increased demand for environmental awareness from brands. The onus remains on businesses to tackle these corresponding revolutions in consumer behaviour. We need to focus our efforts on models that have sustainability at their very core," said Mimi Kalinda, Co-founder, and CEO of Africa Communications Media Group (ACG)/MARCO.
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In terms of consumption of digital media, podcasts have become popular, with 69 per cent of respondents in Kenya and 68 per cent in South Africa listening to them.
However, they are not as popular in the Ivory Coast, where only 37 per cent of the respondents reported listening to them.
Whereas investment in cryptocurrencies is gaining traction in other parts of the world, it seems not to have attracted much attention in Africa as only 50 per cent of respondents in Kenya, 46 per cent in South Africa, and 53 per cent in Ivory Coast have invested in cryptocurrencies.
