Roots survey launches in April in Joburg, Durban, Cape Town

This year's survey themed, 'Coming Home - Rooted in Reality' will include an increased sample size, new areas surveyed, new categories and relevant questions. The 2013 sample has close to 30,000 interviews and covers over 115 local areas from Sandton, Constantia and Ballito to Polokwane, Diepkloof and Gugulethu.

It provides marketers, advertisers, media and creative agencies with the intelligence and insights into buyer's reading, shopping and leisure habits at local community level. Besides the usual datasets of demographics and general info, it digs deeply into other categories such as digital integration, activities and entertainment and many retail categories from the non, semi durables to the durable and services line. It digs into the use of advertising and buyer behaviour at a suburban or town level.

Analysing markets at local level

According to joint MD of NAB, John Bowles, probably the biggest overarching benefit is that a deeper understanding of the market is achieved by zooming down to local micro communities and the ability to analyse many markets at local level. "Shopping behaviour in Fourways is most definitely not the same in Bloemfontein or even Midrand which is only separated by a handful of kilometres," he says.

"Whether you're an FMCG brand, a financial institution or an internet business, the survey helps you figure out where your market is. Brand advertisers have market shares that differ area by area, so they need to get to grips with the areas where they are strong or weak. Banks need to know where the 'real' potentials are.

"The survey can highlight the high incidence areas of categories such as credit cards, life insurance or even burial society hotspots. Online businesses can figure out exactly where the digital savvy connected users are and target them accordingly."

Some real changes

The survey also covers South Africa's economic landscape comprehensively from established communities in the higher LSM groups to the increasingly important urban township markets. The survey will uncover the key townships of Gauteng, Durban and Cape Town as well as those in the growing towns of Polokwane, Nelspruit and Rustenburg where some real changes are taking place.

"Today, business is under tremendous pressure to make the right decisions. This can only be achieved by understanding the buyer and market's habits, where they live, their demographics and behaviours. The survey is rooted in reality, providing critical intelligence about the markets where brands, stores or services are available. Geographic segmentation is the only relevant segmentation in today's environment because it is real and is the tool to get to grips with the real battle on the ground."