Alcock said outdated assumptions about township consumers were resulting in businesses overlooking one of the country’s fastest growing and most dynamic markets.
“We are doing a terrible job about marketing wine to this space,” he said.
Alcock, author of KasiNomics and a long-time researcher of South Africa’s informal economy, argued that township consumers were not “Westernising”, but modernising while maintaining distinct cultural identities and preferences.
“Do not make the mistake of thinking of townships and rural areas as an income category. It is now a demographic and cultural group,” he said.
Challenging the ‘township poverty’ narrative
Alcock said media portrayals often created the false impression that most South Africans still lived in informal settlements.
“If you read about townships, you will typically see a picture of shacks alongside doom-and-gloom headlines,” he said.
Referring to the book Factfulness by Hans Rosling, which explores how global living conditions are improving despite negative perceptions, Alcock warned against what he described as anecdotal, media and historical bias.
According to him, only about 13% of South African households currently live in informal dwellings, while more than 80% live in formal housing.
He quoted recent housing statistics, according to which South Africa had about 19,5 million households in 2024, of whom 16,4 million were formal dwellings, 2,3 million were informal dwellings, and 766 000 were traditional dwellings.
Alcock said this shift towards formal housing was fundamentally changing consumer behaviour and spending patterns.
“When people live in formal dwellings, they spend on decor and design and start having more of a middle-class lifestyle,” he said.
Formal housing is reshaping consumer behaviour
Alcock pointed to growing investment in home improvements in township areas, including decorative ceilings, chrome gates and chrome gutters, often featuring luxury-inspired designs.
Drawing on previous work with a mass-market home decor and clothing retailer, Alcock recounted visiting township households to better understand decor preferences.
In one case, a homeowner proudly showed off curtains worth R25 000 that she had bought after receiving a stokvel payout.
When the buyer from the retailer, who accompanied him, complimented her on the curtains and asked whether she had seen their store’s range, the homeowner replied: “Who buys that stuff?”
Alcock said similar trends were emerging in kitchen upgrades and household appliances.
He noted that companies such as PG Bison, traditionally associated with affluent suburbs such as Constantia and uMhlanga Rocks, were seeing strong growth in township markets through demand for premium kitchen finishes and surfaces.
“There has been dramatic growth in sales of fridges and appliances as well,” he said, adding that about half of all air fryers in South Africa were reportedly sold through Shoprite stores.
Smaller households, different spending patterns
Changing household structures are also reshaping consumption patterns.
According to Alcock, about 27% of South African households now consist of a single person, while almost 40% consist of two to three people. The national average household size had declined from about six people two decades ago to about 3,2 people.
Smaller households tend to spend less on staple foods and more on convenience, eating out, beauty products, electronics and lifestyle experiences, he said.
The informal economy
Alcock estimates that South Africa’s informal economy could be worth between R1 trillion and R2,3 trillion annually, citing recent FinScope estimates that informal businesses contribute R2,3 trillion to the economy.
He said township taverns, informal restaurants and takeaway outlets were increasingly evolving into premium social spaces offering food, Wi-Fi and card payment facilities.
According to Alcock, South Africa has about 44 500 licensed taverns with turnover of roughly R110 billion a year, while the ‘kasi kitchen’ sector, including shisanyamas, kota outlets and other informal food businesses, generate about R90 billion annually from about 50 000 outlets.
“People are not buying these foods because they cannot afford something else. They are buying them because they prefer them,” he said.
He added that off-premise alcohol consumption, where consumers buy alcohol to drink at home or at social gatherings, is growing strongly and accounts for as much as 60% of alcohol sales in some categories.
Using examples from township businesses, Alcock described how informal traders were increasingly adopting digital payments and premium product offerings.
One example is a township liquor outlet operating from a small ‘hole-in-the-wall’ premises that was generating close to R1 million a month in turnover 18 months ago and had since doubled sales.
Wines missed connection
Alcock said the wine industry needs to better understand township food culture and consumer behaviour instead of relying on traditional marketing approaches.
He noted that many consumers were introduced to wine through friends, family and social occasions rather than formal wine marketing campaigns.
“I found out about it through a friend’s recommendation” is a recurring response in consumer research, he said.
According to Alcock, social media platforms such as WhatsApp, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube offer major opportunities to build authentic connections with these consumers through relatable storytelling rather than polished advertising campaigns.
“It is about real people telling their real stories, not fancy stuff with influencers and super models,” he said.
Speak the language
Alcock said one of the most overlooked barriers to reaching township and informal consumers is language – not in the formal sense of Zulu or Xhosa, but in how people actually speak and communicate day to day.
“It is about speaking the English that people speak.” He described this as colloquial, lived language shaped by township culture, social media and everyday experience, arguing that brands often miss the nuance by defaulting to formal or imported marketing styles.
“If we cannot connect with the human language, the things people actually speak, we are never going to connect with them,” he said.
He also urged the wine industry to develop reciprocal partnerships and loyalty programmes with township businesses and entrepreneurs, similar to initiatives already implemented by companies such as Parmalat and Heineken.
Alcock said understanding cultural context would become increasingly important as South Africa’s consumer landscape continues to evolve.
