Zimbabwe Retail Sector
Zimbabwe Retail Sector: A look at some of the challenges presented by good economy growth.
By Girland Chibaya
A recent Economic Report for Africa mentioned that Zimbabwe is now ranked among the top 10 economic performers in Africa. While this is good news, what does this mean especially to those South African retail companies that are looking into investing in the country.
A recent trend has shown that most retailers are starting to pay more attention to store growth to both South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. For a long time some of these companies have been shunning opening outlets in Zimbabwe, mainly because of the economic instability and the uncertainty associated with the country. The adoption of the green back has brought about a level of stability and Zimbabwe will undoubtedly attract a few suitors in the retail sector over the next few years or even months.
The biggest mistake that most of the South African companies wanting to open in Zimbabwe are probably going to make is assuming that the Zimbabwean customers are similar to South African customers. This is definitely not true for many reasons some of which are outlined below. My biggest advice to those retail companies wanting to operate in Zimbabwe is: please their research first.
Economists and businesses often use the term market to define various customer groupings. Unlike the South African market, the Zimbabwean market is mainly homogeneous with most people having the same buying preferences. This has made it easy for big supermarkets to penetrate the market without having to define their stores by which region that they are located. The common means of segmenting consumer markets especially in South Africa is to use demographic segmentation which involves defining the market based on population behaviour. In Zimbabwe when one looks at the food or even clothing retail, most preferences are the same across the whole country and hence it becomes senseless to use this form of segmentation when
By Girland Chibaya
A recent Economic Report for Africa mentioned that Zimbabwe is now ranked among the top 10 economic performers in Africa. While this is good news, what does this mean especially to those South African retail companies that are looking into investing in the country.
A recent trend has shown that most retailers are starting to pay more attention to store growth to both South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. For a long time some of these companies have been shunning opening outlets in Zimbabwe, mainly because of the economic instability and the uncertainty associated with the country. The adoption of the green back has brought about a level of stability and Zimbabwe will undoubtedly attract a few suitors in the retail sector over the next few years or even months.
The biggest mistake that most of the South African companies wanting to open in Zimbabwe are probably going to make is assuming that the Zimbabwean customers are similar to South African customers. This is definitely not true for many reasons some of which are outlined below. My biggest advice to those retail companies wanting to operate in Zimbabwe is: please their research first.
Economists and businesses often use the term market to define various customer groupings. Unlike the South African market, the Zimbabwean market is mainly homogeneous with most people having the same buying preferences. This has made it easy for big supermarkets to penetrate the market without having to define their stores by which region that they are located. The common means of segmenting consumer markets especially in South Africa is to use demographic segmentation which involves defining the market based on population behaviour. In Zimbabwe when one looks at the food or even clothing retail, most preferences are the same across the whole country and hence it becomes senseless to use this form of segmentation when