When the cost of coping becomes part of the township customer experience

South Africa's township consumers are adapting to far more than rising prices. From power outages and water disruptions to shrinking household budgets, the pressures of everyday life are changing how people shop, spend and engage with brands long before they reach the checkout.

These realities form the basis of the 2026 Township Customer Experience (CX) Report, produced by Rogerwilco in partnership with Field & Insights Africa. The sixth edition of the annual report explores how infrastructure failures, economic pressure and financial uncertainty are reshaping consumer behaviour in ways that traditional customer experience models often overlook.

“The customer journey no longer begins when someone walks into a store or opens an app," says Mongezi Mtati, senior brand strategist at Rogerwilco and lead author of the Township CX Report. "For many township consumers, it begins with whether there's electricity to refrigerate food, water to cook with or enough money to afford another taxi trip to the shops. Understanding these realities is becoming essential for brands that want to remain relevant.”

Among the report’s key insights:

• 79% of respondents experience power blackouts, which dictate what households can store and cook, shrinking perishable grocery baskets.
  
• 24% feel brands actively make life more expensive, suggesting consumers are increasingly looking beyond superficial visibility towards tangible value and affordability.
  
• Driven by mobile access and financial pressure, gambling has emerged alongside traditional stokvels as another financial coping mechanism, with 50% of respondents placing an online bet during the past 12 months.

The 2026 Township CX Report will be launched during a free live webinar on 22 September at 10am, where leading voices from marketing, research, financial behaviour and township development will unpack the findings and discuss what they mean for brands operating in South Africa's township economy. Confirmed speakers are:

• Mongezi Mtati, senior brand strategist and township CX report lead, Rogerwilco
  
• Shana Abrahams, research lead, MoyaApp
  
• Palesa Lengolo, author, financial specialist and stokvel expert
  
• Brian Makwaiba, co-founder and managing director, Vuleka
  
• Mervyn Abrahams, programme coordinator, Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group

Register for the free webinar here.