Electronics Shopper Survey review: Are air fryers the next best thing since smartphones?

Hands up if you can remember what life was like before air fryers hit the scene. Pretty bleak, right?

So, why the sad trip down memory lane? Well, in our most recent Consumer Electronics Shopper Survey, we looked at which home appliances shoppers had bought over the last two years, and why? As you may guess, air fryers are perched right up there, comfortably between winning Smartphones and third place Bluetooth Headphones. But you saw that coming, so let's take a deeper dive.

The context of our online survey focussed on Home appliances (coffee machines and air fryers), Entertainment (Smart TVs, Bluetooth Speakers/Sound Bars, Decoders/Streaming devices) and Wearable Electronics (Smart Watches, Smartphones and Bluetooth Headphones/Earphones).

The 200-strong sample audience was aged 18 and over and all residing in South Africa. Our objectives were to determine which electronics were the most purchased by consumers during the last two years and their purchase motivations and impacters. We wanted to identify which decoder or streaming services were the overall winners, who the top brands are, and which brands consumers aspired to. Above all, to assist brands with building shopper habits, we explored ways to improve in-store customer experiences. Here's a snippet of our discoveries.

• Straight off the bat, we need to mention that the most dominant purchase motivator across all categories (except air fryers) was to improve the 'at home' experience. Lockdown and subsequent WFH increased the desire to make living conditions more comfortable.
• Air fryer purchases are strongly motivated by the product’s convenience/time-saving attribute, yet still bought which price in mind. It proved to be the highest performing online purchase and Takealot's number one seller on Black Friday.
• A resounding 77% reported that they subscribed to more than one streaming/satellite service proving, what we learned in our Forecourt survey*, that shoppers are becoming ever more demanding of spaces and services.

Pop Quiz: Can you guess which product scored the highest purchase as a gift for a family member? Look closely for the clue in the infographic.

PS: * Our Forecourt Survey Litepaper is coming soon. Keep following us for more insights as we continue to connect brands with ever-evolving shoppers.