South African consumers are excited about the festive season celebrations after following two years of lockdown restrictions, with many planning an even bigger celebration this year.
This is according to an independent survey conducted by Pick n Pay, with over 1 000 local consumers, to track customer sentiment over this popular trading period.
The most popular Christmas meal selected was braai items. Traditional South African dishes came second, with Christmas roasts such as chicken, turkey, or ham and gammon – in the third spot.
Forty one percent of the respondents mentioned meat as being an integral part of their Christmas celebrations, with salad at 23%, drinks (19%), chicken (17%), alcohol (13%), braai (11%) and wine at 11%.
Andrew Mills, group executive of marketing at Pick n Pay said: “This is one of our busiest trading periods, and we have planned well to deliver incredible value to our customers at a very difficult time. The food on the table plays an important role in making Christmas exceptional and a celebration that families deserve.”
Forty eight percent of the people surveyed said they would be going bigger with their planning, up from 23% in 2021 and just 8% in 2020 – a time the country was in the thick of Covid-19.
“It was a hard two years for South Africans during the pandemic – for a multitude of reasons – so it is very positive to see customers excited to spend time with family and friends, and plan festive get-togethers again.”
The survey also showed that many would be prioritising their budgets to accommodate the celebrations. Forty seven percent say they will stay at home, the same as last year. The survey also shows that travel is slowly picking up again, with 40% saying they will be travelling these holidays, up from 33% last year.
“Staycations have been popular for a long time, even before the pandemic. We found customers preferring to stay at home over Christmas and then travelling to more coastal areas for their year-end holiday,” said Mills.
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