Consumer Talk: Refill retail stations gaining popularity

For a long time, the idea of taking your own jar or Tupperware or whatever it was and buying products by the gram rather than purchasing a whole new packet has been one that we've associated primarily with environmental consciousness with those who did this to save on unnecessary packaging, who rejected.

And particularly plastic.

Yes, particularly plastic packaging.

And that market is still a key driver of the rise in refill offerings, which we're talking about today.

But you also want to flag another significant user for whom that refill offering is appealing.

And that's one for whom price consciousness is everything.

Absolutely.

So everyone knows that when you buy in larger quantities, you generally pay less per kilogram.

But I always say check the unit price because the industry knows that we assume that.

And sometimes the smaller pack per gram or liter is the actual cheaper one.

So always check that.

But by and large, that's the way it works.

But many South Africans can't afford the bulk item because...

Even if it is less per kilogram, the total cost is beyond their budget.

And often if you're traveling by taxi, if you've got all these big packets, you have to pay an extra seat for them.

So there are those sort of very practical limitations.

So they go for the smaller pack at the lower price, which is what they can actually afford.

And in the process, the people who can least afford it are paying the highest per gram.

I'll never forget many, many years ago, Pippa, one of the big food manufacturers invited me to go.

with them into a township in Limpopo I flew up and we spent two nights in the township with two different families and we went with them to the places they shopped these little spars shops and they were buying these little tins of coffee and you know the little I can't remember what the other things were but they were these I remember the coffee tiny little packs and I worked out per gram they were paying Way more than double what we would pay for a larger pack in a mainstream supermarket because they can only afford to spend a certain amount on that product at a time.

They don't have access to large sums.

If the jar of

coffee is 100 rand and you only have 40 rand, then you buy...

Exactly.

And so it's stuck with me ever since that visit many, many years ago.