Marketing Research Foundation SA

08/09/2026

What concerns consumers today?

Business strategy should always begin with understanding customer priorities.

According to the latest MAPS release, South Africans are increasingly concerned about:
• Employment
• The economy
• Crime
• Food costs
• Clean water
• Corruption

These concerns influence purchasing behaviour, brand perception and customer expectations.

For marketers, retailers and business leaders, understanding consumer sentiment helps shape more relevant communication, products and services.

MAPS helps organisations connect changing attitudes with demographics, lifestyles, spending behaviour and media consumption—all within one integrated dataset.

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01/09/2026

Financial inclusion continues to evolve

The latest MAPS findings show continued improvements in formal financial inclusion.

More South Africans now report:
• Bank account ownership
• Medical aid membership

These changes provide important indicators of evolving consumer confidence, access to financial services and changing household profiles.

For businesses, these insights can inform:
• Product development
• Customer segmentation
• Retail expansion
• Financial services strategies
• Brand positioning

Understanding how consumers are changing financially is essential for organisations looking to identify growth opportunities.

MAPS enables businesses to track these changes consistently over time through a nationally representative survey.

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18/08/2026

Connectivity is reshaping the South African consumer

One of the clearest findings in the latest MAPS release is the continued shift towards a more connected South Africa.
• Smart TV ownership has increased
• Smartphone ownership has increased
• Ordinary cellphone ownership has declined

These trends influence far more than media consumption.

They affect:
• Digital commerce
• Customer engagement
• Financial services
• Retail experiences
• Content strategies
• Omnichannel marketing

Understanding where consumers are becoming more digitally connected allows organisations to invest more effectively and meet customers where they increasingly spend their time.

MAPS helps businesses measure these shifts using nationally representative data—not assumptions.

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Marketing Research Foundation SA | 793 followers on LinkedIn. Custodian and research repository for marketers and their advertising industry partners. | The Marketing Research Foundation is an independent non-profit company, acting as the custodian and repository of research expertise for marketers....

13/08/2026

Strategic or tactical, macro or micro?

Today, MAPS strategic value extends much further.

Because MAPS combines media consumption, demographics, purchasing behaviour, brand preferences and lifestyle information within a single survey, organisations can answer complex business questions that cannot be solved using fragmented datasets.

Whether you're:
• A CMO evaluating market opportunities
• A Consumer Insights team tracking behavioural change
• A Product Development team identifying unmet needs
• Or Supply Chain teams forecasting demand

MAPS provides one trusted source of consumer intelligence. Built on 20,000 annual single-source interviews and updated quarterly, MAPS enables organisations to monitor South Africa's changing consumer landscape with confidence.

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05/08/2026

Consumer behaviour is changing. Is your strategy keeping pace?

South African consumers are changing – and so should the decisions businesses make.

The latest MAPS data, based on interviews conducted between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026, highlights several important shifts:
• Smart TV and smartphone ownership continue to grow
• Consumers remain focused on employment, the economy, food costs, crime and clean water
• Households are becoming much more connected due to smart TVs and smartphones

These aren't simply statistics. They represent changing consumer behaviour that should influence marketing strategy, product planning, channel selection and investment decisions.

MAPS provides organisations with a nationally representative, single-source view of consumers, allowing businesses to understand not just who their customers are, but how they live, what they buy, what concerns them and how they consume media.
Good business decisions start with understanding people.

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31/07/2026

Every marketing decision starts with understanding people.

Who are your customers? What do they buy? Which media do they consume? How are their behaviours changing? And where are the opportunities for growth?

MAPS® helps answer these questions through South Africa's most comprehensive consumer and media dataset.

Developed by the Marketing Research Foundation in partnership with Plus94 Research, MAPS® provides marketers, agencies, advertisers and media owners with a single view of consumer behaviour, media consumption, brand usage and purchasing patterns.
With five years of continuous data now available, organisations can move beyond assumptions and base decisions on measurable consumer behaviour.

Whether you're developing a brand strategy, planning media investment, identifying growth opportunities or tracking market change, MAPS® provides the intelligence needed to make informed decisions.

The market is constantly evolving. MAPS® helps you understand where it is today—and where it may be heading tomorrow.

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22/07/2026

Reliable insights start with reliable methodology.

The value of any research dataset depends on the quality of the data behind it.

MAPS® is built on continuous fieldwork conducted across all nine provinces, all districts and all municipalities in South Africa. Every year, 20,000 face-to-face interviews and more than 10,000 leave-behind questionnaires contribute to a nationally representative view of the market.

For marketers, agencies and media owners, this means confidence in the insights used to guide strategy, audience targeting and media investment.

In an environment where business decisions carry increasing pressure, trusted data remains one of the most valuable assets an organisation can have.

MAPS® provides that foundation.

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16/07/2026

Good strategy requires more than a snapshot.

MAPS® is South Africa's only quarterly consumer dataset, providing marketers and media professionals with three important perspectives:
• Year-on-year trends that reveal long-term market shifts
• Release-to-release comparisons that highlight recent changes
• Quarter-on-quarter analysis that identifies emerging patterns

Combined with coverage of more than 5,000 brands and over 800 survey measures, MAPS® helps organisations understand who their consumers are, what they buy, which media they use and how those behaviours are evolving.

The strategic advantage is simple: access to current, independent market intelligence that supports better planning, targeting and investment decisions.

Your market is changing. MAPS® helps you see how.

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08/07/2026

Consumer behaviour does not exist in isolation.

Over the past five years, South Africans have experienced lockdowns, inflationary pressure, rising interest rates and changing household finances. These factors continue to influence purchasing decisions across categories.

MAPS® captures these shifts as they happen.

From grocery spending and financial services usage to retail preferences and media habits, the dataset provides a detailed view of how consumers respond to economic conditions.

For brands, this creates a strategic advantage: the ability to align products, messaging and media investment with the realities consumers face today.

Understanding behaviour is valuable. Understanding why it changes is even more powerful.

Contact us: https://mrfsa.org.za/











http://mrfsa.org.za/
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