South Africa’s 938 000 students have a combined annual spend of R30.4 billion, and books are the most shopped product online and the highest value products are cellphones, tablets and laptops. That’s according to the Student Village Student Spend Report 2015.
The marketing firm’s annual report surveys and analyses spending habits among students around the country to get a glimpse into potential opportunities for businesses and markets targeting students.
Together with research consultancy Amoeba Insights, Student Village surveyed a total of 3030 students between the ages of 17 and 25 either online or through facilitated focus groups.
The bulk of respondents were made up of students identifying as black (75%), followed by whites (15%), coloureds (7%), Indians (3%) and Asian (1%).
The report reveals that students still spend more online than the average South African at R32 424 per year on average. Most of the respondents have an ABSA bank account (29%) and only 58% said they save between R1 and R540 a month. Apparently, those who self identify as “coloured” spend more on games than others.
A look at student’s technology spending habits reveals that when shopping online, the top three most purchased products are books (32%), music (24%) and clothing (18%).
Cellphones, laptops and tablets are among the highest value purchases students make, not only because of their prices but also because of usefulness.
The average amount spent on tech products a month can be broken down as follows:
- Computer equipment – R590.43
- Computer games – R448.18
- Airtime – R181.35
- Music – R143.67
- Photocopying, printing and faxing – R62.67
Read the full Student Spend Report 2015, including stats on other spending habits on the Student Village website.
