Consumers are increasingly using digital technology for more than just shopping. There is a revolution occurring in how customers access entertainment and media, for example, 38% of global consumers stream entertainment at least daily.
In South Africa, cord-cutting is also increasingly popular, with 22.9% of consumers streaming movies daily, and 23.9% streaming music daily. Among Gen Z consumers, it is at more than 50%.
Cord-cutting is the practice of cancelling or forgoing a pay television subscription or landline phone connection in favour of an alternative Internet-based or wireless service.
The findings are from PwC’s 2019 Global Consumer Insights Survey, which assesses behaviour, habits and expectations of over 21,000 online consumers in 27 territories.
PwC said there is an increasing trend towards subscription services like Netflix, with people watching less TV, choosing different types of technology, including mobile, to stream.
Anton Hugo, retail and consumer leader for PwC Africa said: “Not only are consumers the strongest link in the global economic chain, but PwC’s Global Consumer Insights Survey shows that the technological tools available to them have put them in a position to demand a tailored, seamless and multichannel shopping and social-media-powered experience.
When it comes to news, a third (33%) of South African consumers, compared to 25% of consumers globally, go to social media first to hear about current events.
The findings also confirm that smartphones have become the go-to technology for online shopping, with more than half (51%) of our global sample of consumers saying they use a smartphone to pay bills and invoices online, and the same percentage transferring money online.
In South Africa, 63.2% of consumers have used digital channels to pay their bills and invoices in the past 12 months, while 67% have transferred money online.
For the first time in the 10 years that PwC has conducted this survey, consumers surveyed are using smartphones over other mobile devices to shop online, with 24% of consumers globally (compared to 23.1% in South Africa) using a smartphone to shop online weekly.
