This reports unlocks South African consumer insights and key drivers affecting commuter shopping behaviour in the winter season.

1. TrendER
‘The
human
truth
behind
the
trend’
South Africa Winter Commuter Trend
Report 2014
Taxi commuters changing shopping habits
into the winter season

2. 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.

3. 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.
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.
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…

4. Early sunsets a concern for
security
• 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.
• 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.
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.

5. 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.”

6. 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.

7. 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

8. 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
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insights obtained from this publication.

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