According to new data, South African consumers buckling under the pressure of the cost-of-living crisis are becoming more innovative and using technology to help them stretch their rands further before making purchases.
The 2026 South African Customer Experience Report, now in its eighth consecutive year has revealed that almost a quarter of consumers in the country (23%) have begun using artificial intelligence (AI) search (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity, etc.,) to compare products, prices, find discounts, deals and “ask anything” questions.
The report showed that within just a year this behaviour has more than doubled, yet three quarters of the companies surveyed do not have an active strategy to manage how they appear in AI-generated answers.
The report highlighted that 72% of consumers feel that their financial circumstances have either barely moved or worsened over the past year.
Half (50%) of respondents indicated that finding the best deal is essential when interacting with customer service representatives.
What was worrying for South Africans, however, was that only 7% of business leaders viewed this as a priority.
This disconnect underscored a shift in customer experience (CX) dynamics.
Rogerwilco CEO Charlie Stewart said the quality of a company's digital presence had become an increasingly important part of the customer experience.
“Consumers increasingly expect information to be available immediately, easy to understand and capable of answering anything that matters to them. The quality of any organisation’s digital footprint has therefore become part of the customer experience itself,” Stewart said.
For brands, the implications are significant because consumers may be forming an opinion about a product or service before they ever visit the company's website, contact centre or physical store.
In this new era, artificial intelligence has emerged as a formidable ally for shoppers. The accessibility of comprehensive product and pricing information at their fingertips has transformed the buying process. Before engaging with any brand, consumers are armed with the power of AI.
AI moves from search to action
The report also pointed to a shift in consumer behaviour as AI moved beyond answering questions and start to take actions on behalf of consumers.
Some 67% of consumers said they would be comfortable allowing AI to fill a shopping cart, while 62% would allow AI to place a meal delivery order.
It appears that one of the country's largest retailers have picked up on this fact, as The Shoprite Group's AI, Pixie, was recently integrated into the company's popular shopping app, Sixty60 has been given an upgrade recently, allowing customers to chat to the AI shopping assistant, using text, voice and images to get personalised shopping help, meal inspiration and product recommendations.
Neil Schreuder, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer for the Shoprite Group, said the latest development moves Pixie beyond product recommendations.
“With Pixie, our goal was to use AI to remove friction from grocery shopping by understanding what customers need. Now Pixie moves beyond smart recommendations, becoming a 24/7 personal shopping butler,” Schreuder said.
The more customers use Pixie, the more personalised its recommendations are intended to become, helping shoppers find products they regularly purchase and keep their household staples stocked.
The CX report also revealed that around half of consumers said they would also be comfortable allowing AI to book travel or medical appointments.
Julia Ahlfeldt of Julia Ahlfeldt CX Consulting said the development represented a significant change in how consumers interact with technology.
“AI is more than just another Google. Consumers aren’t only using it to find information, they’re starting to use it to make decisions and take action on their behalf,” Ahlfeldt said.
The shift is also evident when consumers need assistance.
One in four consumers now turns to AI first when trying to solve a problem, yet only 7% of businesses recognise this behaviour.
Meanwhile, 32% of businesses still believe customers would rather call a contact centre.
“Consumers are making every Rand count and every purchase is now a high stakes calculation. Every hidden fee, out of stock item, defective product or confusing return policy increases the perceived cost of doing business,” Ahlfeldt said.
Customers are leaving quietly
Poor customer experiences are becoming an increasingly serious risk for businesses.
The report found that 81% of consumers experienced a negative customer experience during the past 12 months, up from 76% in 2024.
However, fewer consumers are publicly complaining about those experiences.
Only 24% said they post about poor experiences on social media or review platforms, compared with 50% in 2023.
Instead, many appear to be choosing to leave without explaining why.
“The danger is that businesses may interpret declining complaints as improving customer experience when customers have simply stopped telling them what is wrong,” Amanda Reekie, founder of ovatoyou said.
Businesses may be getting false reassurance
The report also raises questions about whether traditional customer experience measurements are giving companies an accurate picture of how customers feel.
Surveys remain the dominant feedback mechanism, with 79% of businesses using them.
However, almost half of consumers, or 48%, said they either ignore surveys, provide a neutral score despite being unhappy or give a more positive score than their actual experience warrants.
Combined with declining public complaints, this creates the possibility that companies could appear to have satisfactory customer experience scores while customers are quietly abandoning them.
This year's report was produced in collaboration by Ovatoyou, Rogerwilco and Julia Ahlfeldt CX Consulting. The report was an analysis of 2 000 consumer voices coupled to the perspectives of more than 50 business executives.
In an environment where consumers can ask AI almost anything about a business before deciding whether to buy, poor experiences may no longer result in a complaint or a second chance.
They may simply result in a customer disappearing.
ashley.lechman@nationalmg.co.za