The pandemic disruption to the market did not cease with the easing of lockdown regulations, however we see consumers invest in making their home comfortable and rewarding themselves with luxuries, evident as we saw significant growth in value across the home, entertainment and electronics categories as shown in Figure 1.

While consumers are distraught with the pandemic that is dragging to reach the end of its course, purchasing is thought out with the intent that hometainment is a priority, we saw a significant increase in large capacity appliances that would accommodate the new normal. Noteworthy emerging trends amongst the major domestic appliances are:

+ Dishwashers – with people spending more time at home, dishes sure pile up, we saw 82% unit increase from the 13 place-set segment Q1 2021 compared to Q1 2020

+ Washing Machines – we saw large capacity machines range of 14 < 16 kg increase by 48% to a 30% market share that yielded a value derivative of R 98 million in revenue

+ Cooling – large-capacity fridges added just over 16 000 more fridges to the market quarter on quarter with an additional R 397,3 million in Q1 2021 as consumers need more space for storage

These are but a few of the categories that have seen an increase especially in revenue, going into 2021, innovation remains important than ever as well and the brands behaviour towards the environment and how it bridges its relationship with consumers who through lockdown and introspection adjusted their lifestyle priorities.

Furthermore, we cannot dismiss that the shift to higher price points across these categories are not only a result of premiumization or self-pampering with high-end goods but also a result of the supply chain disruption that has gripped the manufacturer both local and international. In South Africa we also had another contributing factor of an exchange rate that plummeted to lows never before seen at R 19.04 to the US dollar, this had an average price increase impact of 16% or higher for the top 8 MDA products sold in retail as illustrated in Table 1 below.