By: Natasha Archary
South Africans are unhappy with the quality of food on supermarket shelves due to loadshedding, which is affecting how quickly food goes bad.
Speaking to Gugulethu Mfuphi on Kaya Biz, Riaan Singh, Experience Consulting and Customer Transformation Leader at PwC South Africa, shares what the consumer sentiment is currently.
In a recent study by PwC, the South African Retail Sentiment Index reveals that consumers are deeply dissatisfied with food they are purchasing.
Looking at feedback that consumers are posting on social media, and various news articles, PwC researchers determined that South Africans have health concerns relating to subpar food quality.
Consumers are also unhappy with retailers for unethical behaviour due to the poor food quality.
“The outlook for loadshedding suggests that pressure on food supply chains, and by implication, food quality and prices, will continue in the short term.
There were numerous complaints from customers about the price of food, poor customer service, and the product offering perspective.
Consumers did react positively towards Woolworths, and the quality of food vs the value of food on offer, and general sentiment is that Woolworths ranks highly in this regard.”
According to Riaan, consumers are also not pleased with how retailers react and deal with complaints, with most taking their frustrations online because this seems to be the fastest way to get a reaction or response from brands.
Riaan says that food delivery services have also received scathing reviews from paying customers who say fast food outlets are using ingredients that are on the verge of expiring which poses health risks.
With Eskom pushing the country into Stage 6 loadshedding indefinitely, retailers are forced to increase their costs, spending billions to counter the effects of the rolling blackouts.
Listen to the conversation on Kaya Biz:
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