New research from price comparison website PriceCheck has revealed what items top the list for South Africans when they go online shopping, as well as their most prominent habits.
PriceCheck has about 2,5-million people a month using its services.
“South Africans love to buy according to the shopping seasons and what we see at this time of the year is vastly different to what we see around Black Friday in November,” says Kevin Tucker, CEO of PriceCheck. “Cellphones dominate the searches – South Africans are very enthusiastic when it comes to finding deals for cellphones. I think the reason for this is that we have a much larger number of prepaid users than contract users in the country.”
“Interestingly, what also tops the list is a search for DSTV decoders,” Tucker says. “People are trying to save a couple of rand on DSTV which doesn’t vary much in price.
“Searches between male and female are somewhat similar,” he adds. “Among females we see a lot of health and beauty products in addition to cellphones and gadgets.”
Additional analysis revealed:
• Customers are doing the most online shopping between 10am and 4pm.
• The age category for who does the most online shopping is 25 to 34.
• South Africans spend about eight hours a day on the Internet using a Desktop/Laptop and an additional three hours via a mobile device.
• Males are mainly looking online for vehicle-related items, consumer electronics and travel. While females are also interested in these things, they tend to search for home furnishings and are more inclined to keep up with the latest fashion trends.
• Most users tend to utilise computers rather than mobile devices when purchasing from e-commerce stores as they feel it provides a more trustworthy experience.
• There are an estimated 17,1-million users who utilise e-commerce, which is roughly 31% of all our population. From this, each user spends an estimated $136 (R1 800.00) a year on e-commerce purchases.
• Males are currently doing more online shopping than Females. (Male: 50,16% Female: 48,46%)
And, according to PriceCheck, the most searched for items are:
– DStv PVR Explora 2 Decoder
– JoJo 1000l Vertical Water Tank
– DStv 5U/5S HD Decoder Fully Installed
– DStv 5U/5S HD Decoder Stand Alone
– Jojo Vertical 5000l Water Tank
-Huawei P9 Lite 16GB in Black