Online shoppers comprise all ages and incomes now

From the ‘unboxing’ of a new purchase to the many abandoned transactions that are costing online retailers billions—the marketing gurus behind The 2021 South African Digital Customer Experience Report will unpack the compelling, and sometimes, surprising results from the survey during an exclusive panel at the upcoming CEM Africa, taking place from 10–11 November.

CEM = Customer Experience Management
CX = Customer Experience

It is the third major annual study undertaken by marketing and advertising agency Rogerwilco, market research company ovatoyou and certified customer experience professional Julia Ahlfeldt.

“Money left on the table”
The report states that “ecommerce has finally come of age in South Africa, one of the few sectors to find a silver lining in the COVID-19 cloud”. The data shows that income and age are no longer barriers for participation in online shopping. For example, the 50+ category is just as likely to be conducting research and making online purchases as their counterparts in their 20s and 30s, while 73% of those with a monthly household income of less than R10 000 per month are shopping online.

However, the report emphasises that basic flaws in the online experience for customers are costing etailers billions in potential turnover.Cart abandonment, where a consumer adds a product to their cart but does not go through with the transaction, is high among South African online shoppers according to the report (76% of those surveyed), and is estimated to cost online retailers more than R20.4bn.

“Cart abandonment is money left on the table, plain and simple”, notes Julia Ahlfeldt. “A customer has invested the time to choose a retailer, investigate products, and then jumps ship because the experience falls short. This leaves a double whammy of lost revenue and an annoyed customer.”

‘Unboxing’ the purchase
Amanda Reekie, from ovatoyou, believes that even though the fulfilment landscape has matured, challenges remain: “It is going to take real creative thinking and collaboration to open up improved delivery options that are less expensive”.

Delivery, however, was surpassed in the report by the 34% who said unboxing their new purchase was the most memorable aspect of their online shopping experience (the balance spoke to the point at which they made the purchase (19%), the thrill of the research (10%) and the after sales support (4%)).

“Good UX minimizes frustration”
The report further reveals that Takealot is one of South Africa’s most loved and trustworthy brands, thanks to (among others) the user experience (UX) of the online customer.  

According to Rogerwilco CEO Charlie Stewart, good UX minimises frustration, reduces second guessing and stops customers from switching across to a rival site: “Retailers need to recognise that consumers are becoming more loyal to the experience than they are to the brand. Anything that improves the experience creates stickiness”.

CEM Africa’s exclusive panel on The 2021 South African Digital Customer Experience Report will include the authors: Charlie Stewart, Amanda Reekie and Julia Ahlfeldt. Joining them are Joseph Sindaha from Nestlé, and Janine George from Carrol Boyes. The discussion will be streamed live on Day 2 from 09:30am–10:15am SAST on 11 November. 

Honest retellings of CX experiences
The CEM Africa Summit has been around for a decade and has played a leading role in South Africa’s customer experience journey and has connected thousands of CX professionals over the years. 

Confirmed event sponsors so far include Freshworks, Verint, Insider, Infobip, Rogerwilco, Simplify360 and Inquba.

CX experts from some of the most recognised and successful brands on the continent, including Multichoice, Woolworths, Shoprite, Superbalist, African Bank, DHL and Rand Merchant Bank, will share their successes, failures and lessons learnt during the event.

How to join them?
CEM Africa returns via a world-class virtual event platform offering access to the live keynotes, panel discussions and the agenda. Attendees will be able to engage with the speakers and participate in Q&A sessions, polls and surveys. They can also contact exhibitors via chat or video call, exchange business cards with other participants and download brochures. To register and access the full programme, click here.

About CEM Africa
CEM Africa is the largest online CX event on the continent and is organised by Kinetic Events, which is a partner of The Vuka Group (formerly Clarion Events Africa).

Dates and location:
Dates: 10–11 November 2021
Venue: Online

Website: https://cemafricasummit.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cem-africa-summit/
Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/CEMAfrica/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CEMAfricaSummit

Media registration: You can register to attend for free here

Media contacts:
Adam Fletcher, Chief Marketing Officer, CEM Africa
Mobile: 071 130 9160
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Annemarie Roodbol
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Leading etailing marketers share their insights on COVID-19’s silver linings

Some of the leading global and local pioneers in ecommerce and customer experience (CX) are set to share their insights, case studies and success stories at the upcoming CEM Africa from 10–11 November 2021. This follows the unprecedented, accelerated adoption of ecommerce and online shopping by billions during the last 18 months, and etailing proving to be one of the few silver linings in a pandemic-depressed economy worldwide.

*CEM = Customer Experience Management

CEM Africa speaker and session highlights include:

• Qaalfa Dibeehi is the Dean of the Customer Experience Leadership Institute (The School of Great Moments), at Majid Al Futtaim, a global conglomerate (retail, hotels, property, grocery, luxury, entertainment, cinemas, etc) based in Dubai.
  
  - “The technology we now refer to as CRM stems from the need to have real time customer dialogue” - Source
  
  On Day 1, on Wednesday, 10 November, Qaalfa Dibeehi is delivering the opening keynote presentation entitled: “DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION AND LOFI CX - LOW FIDELITY CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE”.
  
  
• Robert Paddock is the founder and CEO of the Valenture Institute. He was the co-founder of GetSmarter, an online education company that has educated over 200,000 professionals from 154 countries, and was sold to Nasdaq-listed 2U in 2017.
  
  - Rob believes that the online experience has got to be designed from first-principles: “The closest analogy [for bricks and mortar schools operating remotely] would be if you’ve got a petrol or diesel engine car and you try to retrofit an electric engine into it, versus a purpose built electric car”. - Source
  
  Robert Paddack is presenting a case study on “ONLINE EDUCATION SECTOR - THE NEW STUDENT EXPERIENCE”.
  
  
• Steve Towers is a Process Management and Customer Experience enabler from the USA. The founder of the BP Group in 1992, Steve was named one of the 30 most influential Global Customer Service Experts in 2021.
  
  - “Without a clear, outside-in line of sight to what your customers true needs and successful outcomes are, you will never be truly customer centric. Change is a must. Every person in the organisation needs to make the customer their True North”.
  
  Steve Towers will deliver a keynote on “THE IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE AND GLOBAL LEADERSHIP IN THE ADOPTION OF CX APPROACHES”.
  
  
• Simon Hartley is the founder of Wumdrop in South Africa.
  
  - “As of 2021, “informal economy” is a phrase that absolves South African businesses of meaningfully serving the overwhelming majority of South Africans when things get hard, or complicated. And I do mean most of us. Our “formal” retail economy comprises a whole 5% of total outlets in South Africa. We’re not even into double digits”.
  
  At CEM Africa, Simon Hartley is part of a panel discussion on “REDEFINING CX FOR THE NEW ERA”. He will be joined by Kia Abbott, Rewards Programme Manager at the Shoprite Group of Companies, Lynne Blignaut, Group Loyalty and Customer Rewards, Dis-Chem and Clint Payne, Senior Manager – Customer Experience at Multichoice.
  
  
• Julia Ahlfeldt is a South African Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) and one of the marketing experts behind the 2021 South African Digital Customer Experience Report. At CEM Africa, Julia will lead the panel discussion to unpack the compelling, and sometimes, surprising results from the survey. According to the report, South Africa’s most recently reported online spend of R30bn1 suggests that if online stores were to fix key issues they’d potentially generate an additional R11.95bn in revenue.
  
  - “South African consumers have clearly embraced ecommerce,” says Julia. “With improved levels of connectivity and an abundance of online shopping options, there’s no good reason why South Africa should still lag behind. Customer experience is holding it back”. 
  
  
• Chantel Botha, MD of Brandlove Customer Experience, will share “THE SILVER BULLET TO IMPROVING YOUR CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE”, during which participants will create a practical playbook of rituals and cultural practices that will help their organisation thrive.
  
  - “Poor customer experience is only a symptom. Start a cultural evolution to move your organisation to remarkable employee and customer experiences”.

Valuable CX lessons
The CEM Africa Summit has been around for a decade and has played a leading role in South Africa’s customer experience journey and has connected thousands of CX professionals over the years. Confirmed event sponsors so far include Freshworks, Verint, Insider, Infobip, Rogerwilco, Simplify360 and Inquba.CX experts from some of the most recognised and successful brands on the continent, including Multichoice, Woolworths, Shoprite, Superbalist, African Bank, DHL and Rand Merchant Bank, will share their valuable lessons learnt (from success and failure) during the event.

How to join them?
CEM Africa returns via a world-class virtual event platform offering access to the live keynotes, panel discussions and the agenda. Attendees will be able to engage with the speakers and participate in Q&A sessions, polls and surveys. They can also contact exhibitors via chat or video call, exchange business cards with other participants and download brochures. To register and access the full programme, click here.

About CEM Africa 
CEM Africa is the largest online CX event on the continent and is organised by Kinetic Events, which is a partner of The Vuka Group (formerly Clarion Events Africa).

Dates and location: Dates: 10–11 November 2021
Venue: Online

Website: https://cemafricasummit.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cem-africa-summit/
Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/CEMAfrica/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CEMAfricaSummit

Media registration: Register to attend for free here

Media contacts:
Adam Fletcher, Chief Marketing Officer, CEM Africa
Mobile: 071 130 9160
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Annemarie Roodbol
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

“Covid pandemic showed that your customer can change in a heartbeat”

Customer experience (CX) experts from some of the most recognised and successful brands on the continent, including Multichoice, Woolworths, Shoprite, Superbalist, African Bank, DHL and Rand Merchant Bank, will share their successes, failures and lessons learnt during the next edition of CEM Africa Summit, taking place from 10–11 November 2021.

* CEM = Customer Experience Management

“CX is about managing the end-to-end journey that a customer experiences with a brand or solution that makes them feel heard and understood—from touchpoint through to advocacy—of a brand, a company, a solution and more,” says Shannon Mackrill, co-founder of the CEM Africa Summit.

According to Mackrill, over the last three to four years the importance of the customer has grown in this very specialised segment of consumer marketing: “The movement towards the gig economy and on-demand solutions has helped shape customer expectations of companies. This puts brands to the test, increases competition and forces them to perform better.”

He says the biggest lesson that the market has learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic is “that your customer can change in a heartbeat. It is not this thing or ideal that is constant. Your customers’ needs change as technology and expectations do, and so should a brand or a business. The consequence will be falling behind and losing customers.”

ROI is key
November’s CEM Africa Summit will gather heads of CX, marketing, MDs, owners of companies or business units. “Essentially anyone who has an interest in their customers,” says Mackrill. “They attend to expand their knowledge and more specifically to learn from others who have faced challenges or successes in managing their own customers experience, practical insights and real examples from those who are entrenched within the industry. ROI is key, as well as demonstrating the power that great CX has on customer retention and creation.”

Honest retellings of CX experiences
The CEM Africa Summit has been around for a decade and has played a leading role in South Africa’s customer experience journey and has connected thousands of CX professionals over the years.

States Mackrill: “We are proud of having been at the cradle of this discipline, way before CX was a consideration, let alone a job title; and until today it is still an event that helps shape the way people think about and engage CX in their daily work lives and has been essential to push the boundaries of understanding and shaping the experience a customer has with a particular product, solution and company.”

He adds: “As always we look forward to honest retellings of leading companies’ customer-related experiences and projects. If they failed, how they failed and why. If they succeeded, explanation of their recipe for success. Panel discussions and keynotes, no death by power point, just real people telling real stories.” He continues, “this sentiment was a tough sell in the early years, however, nowadays it is essential in the vision and growth of a company. We have also seen CX shift to include employee experience as a means of manifesting good customer experience.”

The 25+ CX experts in the CEM Africa Summit programme line-up include:

• AutoTrader: George Mienie, CEO
• Dischem: Lynne Blignaut, Group Loyalty and Customer Rewards
• CX Visionary: Steve Towers, Process Management & CX enabler
• Rand Merchant Bank: Mumbi Odambe, Head of CX and Design
• Rand Water: Kamohelo Potloane, Head of Customer Experience Development
• Shoprite Group of Companies: Kia Abbott, Rewards Programme Manager
• South African Tourism: Debbie Damant, Head Visitor Experience
• Superbalist: Brenda Zuma, Customer Service and Operations Manager
• Woolworths: Hanz Rauch, Head of Digital Online Products
• African Bank: Eloise Boezak, Head Customer Experience
• Multichoice: Clint Payne, Senior Manager, Customer Experience
• Majid Al Futtaim Group: Qaalfa Dibeehi, Dean of Customer Experience Leadership Institute

Confirmed event sponsors so far include freshworks, Infobip, Insider, Rogerwilco and Verint.

How to join them?
CEM Africa returns via a world-class virtual event platform offering access to the live keynotes, panel discussions and the agenda. Attendees will be able to engage with the speakers and participate in Q&A sessions, polls and surveys. They can also contact exhibitors via chat or video call, exchange business cards with other participants and download brochures. To register and access the full programme, click here.

About CEM Africa
CEM Africa is the largest online CX event on the continent and is organised by Kinetic Events, which is a partner of The Vuka Group (formerly Clarion Events Africa).

Dates and location:
Dates: 10–11 November 2021
Venue: Online

Website: https://cemafricasummit.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kineticevents/
Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/CEMAfrica/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CEMAfricaSummit

Media registration: Use the code CEMPRESS to register here

Media contacts:
Adam Fletcher, Chief Marketing Officer, CEM Africa
Mobile: 071 130 9160
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Annemarie Roodbol
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.