As prices rise, shopping habits change

South Africans have become more responsible shoppers after being hit by a flood of rising prices this year.

The Citizen took to the streets of Auckland Park to ask people about their shopping experiences following the increases in Value Added Tax (VAT), fuel levies, electricity and more.

Walking out of Campus Square with his friends, Brendon Mokalapa, a student from the University of Johannesburg, said since the increase in taxes, his grocery trips and transport have become much harder for him to afford.

“The money that we have monthly to buy groceries has decreased now because while things have become more expensive, our allowances remain the same,” he said. “So we just have to be wiser when it comes to how we spend our money.”

Another shopper, Donald Shiko, said “the rate of inflation is not increasing in proportion to people’s salaries”.

“When things go up, people aren’t able to buy what they used to before.

“You shop less now, and you buy the more basic things.”

Just outside the shopping centre, carrying heavy bags of groceries, Katekani Chabalala said her buying experience had not changed drastically but that the price increase would have an impact on the poor who could not keep up with the increases.

According to the latest Nielsen Shoppergraphics Report, consumers have reduced their spending power by dropping three grocery categories from their shopping basket.

– jenniffero@citizen.co.za

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