Johannesburg - South Africans are more loyal shoppers than those in many other parts of Africa as well as Middle Eastern countries.
A large reason for this is because they feel that being part of a retail loyalty programme allows them monetary rewards such as cash back, free products or discounts.
This is according to a recent survey that found that 84 percent of those in the country who participated in the study said they were part of a loyalty programme.
This is in comparison with the 66 percent of global respondents who were members of one or more loyalty programmes.
These findings form part of global performance management company Nielsen’s latest Global Retail Loyalty Survey, which is based on respondents with online access in 63 countries.
Nielsen head of emerging markets thought leadership Ailsa Wingfield said this method was chosen as an online survey methodology, and allowed for tremendous scale and global reach.
She added that it also provided a perspective on the habits of only existing internet users, and not total populations.
Wingfield explained that much of the reason for belonging to a loyalty programme was due to modern trade.
“In Africa and the Middle East, participation in retail loyalty programmes is closely tied to the strength of modern trade.
“Modern trade is still in a growth phase in many countries in the region. However, the high membership rate in South Africa speaks to the relatively long history of loyalty programmes and high penetration in the market.”
The survey also found that 62 percent of South African respondents revealed that they belong to between two and five schemes, while 6 percent said between six and 10 schemes.
In terms of how they interact with their loyalty scheme, 82 percent scan their card in-store, which represents one of the highest usage rates of physical loyalty cards in the world.
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Thirty-two percent enter information or log into their account on a retailer’s website and 28 percent use the retailer’s app.
“This is another clear indication that an omni-channel experience is the new reality for consumers,” said Wingfield.
“Retailers can’t think of the online browsing and in-store buying experience as disparate activities.”
The Nielsen survey also found that monetary rewards are more highly valued in South Africa than in other countries in the region.
Nearly seven in 10 South African loyalty-programme participants said rebates or cash-back (69 percent ) or product discounts (67 percent ) were among their top three considerations.
In addition, 43 percent of surveyed South Africans said free products were the reason that they belonged to a loyalty programme.
Meanwhile, 76 percent of South Africans stated that loyalty programmes were more likely to make them continue to do business with a company, while 67 percent said they joined loyalty programmes only to get free products or discounts.
“Loyalty programmes also create competitive advantage by reducing customers’ likelihood to switch stores, and 67 percent said that, all things being equal, they would buy from a retailer with a loyalty programme over one without,” said Wingfield.