1.  SA Web User 2000 - October/November 2000

Project SA Web User aims to provide South African companies with access to statistically accurate, properly sampled research data which meets the need for relevant, accurate and useful statistics on Web usage and online buying behaviour in South Africa.

Given the rapid change in the industry, we feel that it is important to track the behavioural patterns of the South African Web user on an annual basis. A study was conducted in March 1999, October/November 1999, and in October/November 2000.

For SA Web User, telephonic interviews are conducted amongst people who regularly access the Web, that is at least once a month. Interviews are conducted using Computer Aided Telephonic Interviews (CATI). A semi-structured questionnaire is administered to elicit the required information.

Once interviewing is complete, any open-ended questions are coded by Webchek's parent company Research Surveys' coding department, which is situated at the company's head office in Cape Town. The data is then analysed by Research Surveys' computing department (also situated in Cape Town) by means of running various cross-tabulation routines.

In total of 400 interviews have been conducted in the 2000 study. In order to qualify for the interview, potential respondents need to fulfill the following criteria:

They must have a computer at home (home users) or at work (business users)

They must have access to email via their computer

They must check their email at least three times a week

They must access the World Wide Web at least once a month via their computer

For home users, the questions relate to usage of the Web at home and for business users, the questions relate to usage of the Web at work. The interviews are conducted in the major metropolitan areas of Gauteng, Cape Town and Durban. No quota controls are placed on gender or on race. These area quotas are imposed in accordance with the penetration figures in the market, to ensure a properly representative sample.

Price of SA Web User 2000

The total SA Web User study is ZAR 30 500 (excluding 14% VAT) which includes the Marketing and Selling modules.  If you would just like to buy the Marketing Module it is ZAR 12 500 (excluding 14% VAT).  If you would just like to buy the Selling Module it is: ZAR 24 500 (excluding 14% VAT)

You will receive a report (including a strategic overview of the key implications of the findings) as well as a presentation/workshop if based in South Africa.

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2. Tracking penetration of PC ownership, email access and Web access - ongoing since March 1998

A large representative sample of white, black, coloured and Indian males and females, aged 18 years and older, and living in major metropolitan areas, are interviewed on a regular basis using random suburb sampling techniques in order to obtain a representative sample of the adult urban population in South Africa. The OmniChek methodology offered by Webchek's parent company, Research Surveys is used.                       Furthermore, quota restrictions are placed on home language in order to achieve a representative split of English- and Afrikaans-speaking respondents. As a result, Webchek's statistics exclude Web users who live and / or work outside Gauteng, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, East London and Bloemfontein. Users younger than the age of 18 years are also not included (except in the case of the teen studies in which teens aged 11 - 19 years are interviewed).

All interviews are conducted by trained interviewers working under the supervision of Regional Field Managers (who also liaise with the executive responsible for the research project). Interviews are conducted in the respondent's home language, on a face-to-face basis. In addition, a fieldworker of the same race group as the respondent conducts each interview.

In order to ensure honesty and reliability, a minimum 20% checkback is conducted on the total sample, with a minimum 10% checkback on the work of any one interviewer. The questionnaires are edited and coded in the coding department, which is based in Cape Town. Data is captured in the computing department and then analysed on the in-house computer using various cross-tabulation routines.

To date, we have tracked this information on 38 studies, across both genders and all race groups, arriving at penetration figures for the SA urban market at large, over a period of time, providing us with tracking data.

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3. The current and future potential for e-commerce in the financial services sector - February 2000

Webchek's Project SA Web User 1999 syndicated research study, conducted in March 1999, highlighted some interesting facts regarding e-commerce and online banking at present, not least of which was that 32% of Web users conduct their banking online, conducting a minimum of two transactions and 24% of Web users have purchased something on the Web, 16% of Web users more than once.

These results identified a need to conduct a detailed electronic commerce study aimed at understanding the current and future market potential of online financial services (i.e. banking, stocks and shares, assurance and insurance, investments, and car and home finance).

To answer the objectives, we conducted a representative study amongst 400 Web users in February 2000. These users have to access the Web at least once a month and have access to a PC either at home or work. They are also the financial services decision-maker in the household. We used CATI to conduct the interviews. In this market, we have shown that it is easier to obtain a representative sample through telephonic interviewing than by using face-to-face interviews.

To truly understand how committed people are to the channels they currently use for financial services and hence the potential of the online market in financial services, Webchek used the proprietary technique called the Conversion Model™. The Conversion Model™ segments users of a brand, service or in this case, channel, into one of four segments and non-users of a channel into one of another four segments.

To ensure that we obtain the most value out of segmenting the market into the eight Conversion Model™ segments, we analysed them in terms of their: Demographics: age, gender, income, occupation, life stage, language etc. Financial behaviour: types of financial services used, extent of this usage, cross-usage of products, financial institutions used Web usage: extent of Web usage - light, medium, heavy user.

If we have the demographic, financial and Web usage profile of each segment, we will be able to target the right people who are available to online financial services. But this is not enough. We also need to appeal to these people using the issues that are important to them. We need to establish the expectations that people have of different channels, particularly the Internet. For this we use a technique called the Jaccard Analysis. The Jaccard Analysis establishes which attributes are important to consumers and the extent to which each of the channels is managing to satisfy these expectations.

The study was released in May 2000.  All prices are exclusive of 14% VAT.

The total study has been broken down into six modules, and you can buy one or all six of the modules. To recap, the modules are listed below

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To buy one of six: ZAR 45 000

To buy two of six: ZAR 80 000

To buy three of six: ZAR 110 000

To buy four of six: ZAR 130 000

To buy five of six: ZAR 140 000

To buy all six: ZAR 150 000

As stocks and shares has a smaller base size it is ZAR 25 000

To buy two (one of which is stocks and shares) is ZAR 65 000

To buy three (one of which is stocks and shares) is ZAR 95 000

To buy four (one of which is stocks and shares) is ZAR 120 000

To buy five (one of which is stocks and shares) is ZAR 135 000

To buy six (one of which is stocks and shares) is ZAR 155 000

You will receive a report for each module (including a strategic overview of the key implications of the findings) as well as a presentation/workshop for each module if you are based in South Africa.

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