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‘The  human  truth  behind  the  trend’  

South Africa Winter Commuter Trend Report 2014 Taxi commuters changing shopping habits into the winter season

Introduction According to SANTACO (The SA National Taxi Council), Taxis transport approximately 15 million commuters daily, and this accounts for 60-70% of the commuting public, in particular the workforce. Millions of South Africans will continue to depend on this versatile, dynamic, accessible and affordable mode of public transport. In the light of this, it is important for marketers and brands to comprehend their commuting lifestyle, and how this has an influence in their shopping habits and behaviour. The taxi commuter market is a huge segment that cannot be ignored, also taking a huge potion of the pie in the overall consumer market landscape.

Top line findings What worries commuters the most during the winter season, are the shorter days, as well as the risk of catching colds and flu from other passengers whilst commuting.   As this might sound pretty obvious these two factors have a drastic impact on the change in shopper behaviour. Shorter days means less shopping hours during the week and more commuters wanting to get home as quickly as possible to also avoid the risks of getting sick. Unlocking the human truth behind this trend provides critical insights to unlocking opportunities and challenges that lie ahead in the winter season.  

v Early sunsets a concern for security   The earlier the sunsets the quicker darkness emerges, and the higher the risk of being mugged. Commuters highlighted that they feel less safe during the winter season commuting to and from their homes before and after work. They usually have to walk in the dark, and one never knows what is waiting for them around a dark corner. They are therefore in more of a rush to get home whilst there is still a bit of daylight in the afternoons; this in turn has a drastic change to their week shopping habits as their shopping hours are now greatly reduced.  

 Taking a taxi at 7pm is now a total different scenario to what it was during the summer days, and commuters would rather be long home by then.   We have uncovered four main findings which have a big impact on commuter’s shopping habits into the winter season namely: Speed of service, convenience, cash, and weekend shopping…

The major differentiating issue now is not a case of longer shopping hours for them,

but service and speed of delivery becomes a major factor in their shopping

experience.

•  Speed of service: The quicker they can get into a store, buy what they need, pay and quickly get to the taxi is paramount. Waiting in long queues is out of the question. Service becomes a very important aspect of their shopping experience and speed and efficiency is an important consideration for them.

•  Convenience: The less time they spend in shops the

sooner they can walk to the taxis. Commuters do not want to spend minutes in the shop trying to decide walking from one aisle to the next to pick up little items here and there, but ideally would like the convenience of “grab and go”. Weekly buying is mainly for food to prepare dinner for the family and complimentary dinner items in on convenient area would be ideal. It hard enough trying to decide what to eat for dinner and having to walk around the aisles also adds more effort to the mix.

Ø  “Grab and go” product types where it they do not have to spend minutes trying to decide what to get but something convenient enough with little effort.

Early sunsets a concern for security

•  Cash: A major breakthrough for commuters that has really made life simpler for commuters is being able to withdraw money from shop tills. Now they do not need to walk to the ATM then to the store which also posses more risk of being mugged, but can now withdraw at the till, pay for their goods and get change they can use to pay the taxi. Taxi drivers have a hard time finding change for commuters who come with fixed notes especially in the mornings, and therefore the store still has become a convenient way to be able to get change to pay the taxi in the evening and for the next morning.

  •  Weekend shopping: The limited shopping time during

the week pushes for more and more commuters to do their shopping during the weekends as well.

Respiratory infections: Colds and flu

With so many different commuters coming on and off the taxi throughout the day, contracting colds and flu becomes an increasing concern.   Prevention is a priority for commuters, especially with females 35+ because they cannot afford to have days off work. Most importantly they worry more about their children getting on taxi’s commuting to school and coming back home with a cold of flu.   However as much as they realise the importance of prevention. Commuters are hopeless in this regard, as they feel that this is sometimes beyond their control. Information on the best best way to prevent the chain of infection resulting from multiple contacts with strangers is a big gap in this market and commuters are looking for any source in this regard

“You never know who you are going to be sitting next to, in a

taxi on your way home or work.”

Conclusions and implications for brands

This significant change in commuter shopping habits during the winter season is something that brands need to take note of in order to create relevant communication to this market during the winter season.   The long shopping hours do not become a major factor in commuter’s minds during winter but rather the speedy service and convenience become of more importance; a relevant communication platform for this market   Opportunity for brands also lie in looking at more convenient product offers for the “on the go” commuter who does not have a lot of time to be going around the store comparing and looking around for products – but a quick efficient value pack could become one way to cater for this need.

The threat of being mugged on the streets also provides a major opportunity for financial related products and brands to communicate the benefit of cashless transactions. Keeping in mind that commuters still need a bit of cash on them for the taxi fares. For brands looking to communicate within the taxi rank environment, Provantage on their The South African Commuter Landscape highlights that one should take note that Brand availability / visibility and the retail formats in these environments are very different. Marketers need to clearly understand each of these and have appropriate solutions and strategies to ensure consumer demand is correctly addressed. Taxi ranks are literally the nerve-centers of their communities and all activity will normally start and finish at the rank environments.

Research Methodology v  Research Field research: Face-to-face interviews A sample of 50 Black commuters was conducted Women 35+ years : 40 respondents (80% of sample) Students: 10 respondents (20% of sample) v  Digestion This phase involves the collection of all research data for analysis. In the digestion phase our trend analysts scrutinize all information received to in order to export the data into relevant and meaningful insights.  This is where we ‘unlock the human truth behind the trend’ v  Report In the report phase we use the research insights from the second phase to compile a consumer research report. These research reports are the tools designed to help marketers and brands gain a deeper understanding of the consumer market in their path to developing differentiating brand positioning, impactful communication and campaigns. Other sources: Santaco: www.santaco.org Provantage: The South African Commuter landscape report

About TrendER TrendER is a South African consumer insights research agency. We follow trends and survey consumers to gain a deeper understanding behind the trends in our consumer environment. South African planners and marketers have limited access to local insights and research and they are pushed to rely on adapting international research reports to the local market, which at times is not a true reflection of the real South African consumer landscape “TrendER aims to bridge this gap and equip planners and marketers with the relevant South African insights from surveys conducted on local South African consumers” www.trender.co.za info@trender.co.za Not for further distribution without the permission of TrendER. TrendER (www.trender.co.za) should be referenced for any use of the insights obtained from this publication.

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