Swazi consumers are more or less similar to the global consumer. This is especially true for those living within the urban areas of Swaziland . When Knotell , a full service marketing company based in Swaziland, conducted a survey early this year (2007), consumers were asked to mention what they bought the most during the past festive season. Below is a top five list of the items that the consumers mentioned.

1. Food: this was selected by most of the respondents but was mostly skewed towards female consumers. Swazi consumers consider food as the most special purchase. I suppose this was more so because of the festive season. The main areas where the food was bought, according to the market report, (within the Mbabane - Manzini corridor) are, The Spar Supermarkets, Shoprite, Pick 'n Pay, Vukuzenzele and Lucky Save respectively.

2. Clothes: this tended to be the same across all age groups with women taking the lead. Apparently buying the clothes was more for their children and other family members that it was for them.

The leading stores where the clothes were bought are Jet with a significantly large market share rating followed by Century Fashions, True Worths, Edgars and Luciano.

3. Television Set: Interestingly Swaziland shoppers also mentioned to have bought TV sets during the festive season as opposed to PCs, which seem to be the latest fad in the Swazi market.

Most of the Swazi consumers bought their electronic equipment from Best Electric, Lewis, Bradlows, Clicks Stores, Cash Crusaders and Diskom respectively. There were other smaller shops, which did not make the top list.

4. Bedding: since most Swaziland shoppers had received the 13 th check, most of them decided to buy new apparels for their homes.

5. Building material: most Swazis believe in building a house rather than buying it hence the increase in building materials bought in December.

Within the top 10 list other items that were bought include cell phones, jewellery, cosmetics, and kitchen utensils.

A free comprehensive overview of these Swaziland shopping trends is available here