Perspective: How Dolphin Coast locals shop

You know that mom you look at across the aisle at the supermarket, the one with food stains on her pants and toddler in full tantrum mode, preparing to throw himself from the trolley if he does not get his way?

Or better still, running full tilt in the opposite direction laughing hysterically while mom tries to catch him?

This mom is me and if you are judging me then you don’t have kids.

Last week’s grocery shop was so traumatising I swore I would never do it again (take Ruben along that is, not go shopping).

Shame, it must be traumatic for him, shopping with a lunatic!

I was a donkey on the edge!

No matter where I shop, I can always be sure to bump into a number of people I know (and collect many a sympathetic smile). I pity the poor soul who attempts to engage me in conversation while I wrestle Ruben, WWF style, into a head lock.

How to entice shoppers back and make them loyal customers is something that has mystified store owners for a millennia.

Long gone are the days where there was only one store in town. Woolies has started putting out samples of fruit, chocolate and bakery fare at every corner and, at least for a mom with little ones in tow, it’s a win!

At least I can eat chocolate while doing my head in.

Pick n Pay, Spar, Food Lovers and Checkers see my trolley of chaos just as often though.

So there must be more too it then that.

The recently released Roots consumer survey has provided some fascinating insights into how locals shop.

Turns out Ballito is not as affluent as many people think.

Three things jumped out:

1. Convenience is king.

2. Times are tough.

3. Online shopping is still in its infancy.

Roots is South Africa’s largest urban community survey, spanning 110 metropolitan communities across South Africa with a total sample of 27 468.

Each community is sampled independently, including home sweet home, the greater Ballito area. Conducted every three years, the survey focuses on purchase decision makers in the home.

Interestingly, shopping habits have changed significantly since the survey was last performed in 2016, when bulk monthly shopping was the norm.

Very likely it’s the economic crunch driving this behaviour because shoppers have become more savvy about specials and shop on average 2.4 times a month.

They wait for the paper to hit the streets and then carefully plan their excursion to take advantage of the best specials on offer.

Checkers came out as the most visited grocery store, followed closely by Pick n Pay and Spar.

But it also came down to convenience.

Ballito folk are prepared to travel a mere nine minutes to stock the larder (compared with the national average for small metros of 13 minutes).

Interestingly though, car dealers should know that locals will only drive 11 minutes to buy a car.

This is very low compared to the national average of 21 minutes in small metros.

Gateway has also lost out the most to the extension of Ballito Junction, with a considerable drop in market share.

Online shopping is also not nearly robust as everyone thinks.

According to Roots, the most used stores for online shopping were Pick n Pay and Woolworths but only 29 percent of the community bought something (anything – not just groceries) online in the last 12 months.

However 44 percent researched online before walking into their store of choice to make a purchase.

But make no mistake, online shopping will grow if worldwide trends are anything to go on.

I am not much of an online shopper myself.

I like to hold the product in my hands before making a purchase – there’s still a lack of trust in the whole online experience.

But considering how much fun my family grocery outings have been of late perhaps I should make the leap!

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Points for creativity!