Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences
School of Agricultural and Food Sciences
Department of Consumer Science
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
The retail industry relies on insight into customers’ evaluation of their services and an understanding of the factors that influence this evaluation to improve their market position.
A study was conducted to determine consumers’ views of customer service in a number of South African supermarket chains. The study focused on the eastern suburbs of Pretoria – an area in which a variety of supermarkets are located within close proximity to one another, thereby allowing respondents to draw comparisons between them based on personal shopping experiences.
Focus group discussions revealed that, although the supermarkets in this area all serve customers with similar socioeconomic status, the various chains differ significantly in terms of the quality of service they offer.
Two of the supermarkets received considerably lower ratings than the rest, while another was rated significantly better. The study also provided information on the types of variables that customers take into account when evaluating a supermarket.
It transpired that supermarkets are distinguished from one another in terms of service by sales personnel and value for money. Some supermarkets that offer excellent service are visited infrequently because they are simply too expensive.
Further insights yielded by the study pertain to differences between South African supermarkets and those described in consumer science literature from elsewhere in the world.
One of these differences is related to the issue of personal safety. Several participants spontaneously expressed their concern about hijackings and the fact that supermarkets present soft targets for criminals, indicating that such concerns are an important consideration when deciding between supermarkets.
South African shoppers also appear to differ from their peers overseas in that they experience considerable dissatisfaction with the competence and helpfulness of sales personnel.
Dr AC Erasmus
Consumer Science
+27 (0) 12 420 2575
alet.erasmus@up.ac.za
Two projects dealing with perceived food insecurity in Oranje Farm – a project for community-based interventions as implemented in farm worker households in the Fouriesburg district in the Free State - were completed, and an intervention on dietary diversity was initiated. Hygiene and sanitation levels were improved and a vitamin A-rich vegetable garden was initiated and is monitored frequently.
The first area of research concerned food access strategies as it pertains to dietary diversity of farm worker households. The lack of resources to produce and acquire food resulting in limited dietary diversity often leads to household food insecurity.
This research focused on the contribution of food access strategies (food production, purchasing, bartering, gathering, and payment in kind) to dietary diversity and the level thereof as it contributes to household food security in farm worker households.
It was found that the two most common food accessing strategies used were purchasing and gathering of wild foods. Most people also depended on food production by cultivating vegetables (spinach) and fruit (peaches). Food bartering was seldom practiced due to customs and lack of knowledge, but most received foods as payment in kind (maize meal).
Findings also indicated that dietary diversity was very limited for individual foods consumed although food group variety was high. Limited variety of foods consumed within a food group may lead to specific nutritional deficiencies and diseases.
Interventions should focus on increased use of food access strategies to improve dietary diversity. A vitamin A-rich vegetable garden was established in this community as an initial approach to overcome the problem of limited dietary variety.
Secondly, research concerning the food coping strategies (FCS) practiced in these households to address the perceived food insecurity and issues regarding dietary diversification, was conducted. The different FCS (altering diet, food rationing, food seeking, and altering household composition) used to cushion the hardship of food stress and how it relates to the nutritional status of the women, was investigated.
Findings indicated that the dietary intake analysis revealed normal mean macronutrient and low micronutrient intakes – confirming the possibilities of nutrition-related deficiencies.
Few meals were skipped or food bartered for, and borrowing food/money from friends/relatives was not done. Food shortages experienced were relishes (protein-rich foods, vegetables) used with the staple food (maize meal). A FCS-index is currently being constructed to assess the perceived severity of behaviours to measure FCS.
Focus on increased utilisation of more FCS would alleviate food security problems. Vegetable production will be encouraged as well as food bartering practices to increase the food variety in these households.
The last research area in the project interacts with the introduction of vitamin A-rich vegetable gardens. It concerns the introduction of a new food crop to improve the food utilization of nutritious (vitamin A-rich) foods. The food utilisation patterns/strategies of a known food crop will be used to establish efficient utilisation of a new, unknown crop in a farm worker community model, which will be substantiated in this community and others to facilitate community development.
The follow-on phase of this project on community-based interventions in rural households is currently being planned for a new research site, which will utilise the model developed in the first phase of the project. The first area of research will focus on the caring capacity of caregivers living in a poor peri-urban community in order to formulate community-based guidelines or strategies that may contribute to improved household food security for all age groups, but particularly for the children in such communities.
Dr R Kruger
Consumer Science
+27 (0) 12 420 3780
rozanne.kruger@up.ac.za
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