Caxton and Spark Media hosts advertiser info session with Roots in Mbombela

Caxton and Spark Media hosted a Roots presentation for their advertisers at Mbombela Stadium last Thursday, aiming to provide them with insight into their consumers’ lives.

Roots is an independent research programme that spans over a three-year period. This year’s research presentation contained information gathered from 2020 to 2023, which made the Covid-19 pandemic a point of discussion.

Julia Burger, MC at the event, put it succintly when she said, “The picture has changed, the playing field has changed, and your business has changed.”

To help determine the shopping habits and considerations of consumers in a changing business environment, 23 000 interviews, which touched on 18 different categories, were conducted in 97 local communities across the country. The report was hyperlocalised to the consumers in Mbombela and its surrounds who receive news and advertising inserts from Lowvelder.

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Jacqui Hansen, head of marketing at Spark Media, mentioned that although the shopper journey has become more complex, online has not replaced local print, but rather complements it.

“Print is still incredibly vibrant and buoyant,” she said. “Shoppers actively use the advertising in their local papers to plan their shopping.”

The research done in the Roots programme indicated that 80% of South Africans use print media for shopping and specials, while 87% searching for specials online, still refer back to their newspapers.

Out of this, some interesting statistics were drawn up:
• 81 580 people in Mbombela reads their local paper in a four-week month, of which 51% are female and 49% male
• 93 227 use advertising inserts when making ‘shopping decisions’
• 95% shop in-store
• 23% do more online shopping now than before Covid-19
• 100% look for specials