• The percentage of those who started buying online for Kenya stood at 85 per cent.
• The survey found that 94 per cent of the respondents in Kenya reported having been affected by the pandemic.
Image: HANNIE PETRA
Nearly all Kenyans who switched to online buying of goods when the Covid-19 pandemic struck will continue to do so, a new survey shows.
The survey on consumer perceptions towards brands was conducted among 14,200 respondents in Kenya, South Africa and Ivory Coast from May to June 2022.
The survey, “MARCO Research: Post-Covid Consumer Behaviour” was conducted by the Madrid-based global communications agency, MARCO, using an online methodology with representative permission marketing based sampling carried out by Cint.
Cint is a global software leader in digital insights.
The study revealed that many people started buying online with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and will continue to do so in future. The percentage of those who started buying online for Kenya stood at 85 per cent.
“Since the pandemic, we have adopted a global consciousness, inevitably reinforced by digitization. This global commitment to soft values has become a key to the brand strategy of companies, advertisers and public institutions,” MARCO Group CEO Didier Lagae said.
The survey found that 94 per cent, 63 per cent and 84 per cent of the respondents in Kenya, Ivory Coast and South Africa respectively reported having been affected by the pandemic.
With people staying at home, TV was found to be the most reliable source of information among 79 per cent of the respondents in Kenya and 74 per cent in both Ivory Coast and South Africa.
This was followed closely by Facebook and WhatsApp.
According to the survey, brand sustainability is increasingly becoming an important factor to consider when buying a product.
In South Africa, 75 per cent of the respondents considered the sustainability of a brand as a very important factor to consider when purchasing a product.
In Ivory Coast, 73 per cent of the respondents had a similar consideration as did 76 per cent of respondents from Kenya.
In addition, survey respondents preferred a brand that is responsible as opposed to that which is trendy, as evidenced by the feedback from 85 per cent of the respondents in Kenya, 82 per cent in Ivory Coast and 88 per cent in South Africa.
Human rights awareness at the workplace is also increasing as most of those surveyed believe that a brand should treat its employees well, as reaffirmed by 77 per cent of respondents in Kenya, 91 per cent in South Africa and 78 per cent in Ivory Coast.
Similarly, majority of responds feel brands should participate in CSR initiatives, with 82 per cent of respondents in Kenya, 88 per cent in South Africa and 72 per cent in Ivory Coast emphasising that.
Environmental conservation is also given prominence, with 92 per cent of respondents in South Africa preferring brands that care about the environment.
Kenya and Ivory Coast had 86 per cent and 87 per cent respectively of the respondents rooting for environmental conservation.
“The findings from this survey reaffirm that the current consumer trends are unlikely to change any time soon, and in response to this, companies all over the world are investing heavily to meet increased demand for environmental awareness from brands,” Co- founder and CEO of Africa Communications Media Group/MARCO Mimi Kalinda said.
“The onus still remains on businesses to tackle these corresponding revolutions in consumer behaviour. We need to focus our efforts on models that have sustainability at their very core,” Kalinda added.
In terms of consumption of digital media, podcasts have become popular, with 69 per cent of respondents in Kenya and 68 per cent in South Africa listening to them.
However, they are not as popular in Ivory Coast, where only 37 per cent of respondents reported listening to them.
Whereas investment in cryptocurrencies is gaining traction in other parts of the world, it seems not to have attracted much attention in Africa as only 50 per cent of respondents in Kenya, 46 per cent in South Africa and 53 per cent in Ivory Coast have invested in cryptocurrencies.