E-commerce stats reveal load-shedding panic

In light of Eskom’s load-shedding darkness, Makro has taken the opportunity to send out an email which details its most “popular” products. The list comprises, exclusively, generators, battery-powered lamps, and gas cookers available at its outlets.

Below is a sample from Makro’s email, aimed at beating load-shedding.

The list shows the power of combining data with marketing, showing consumers what they would most likely need, based om the purchases of other consumers.

Google Trends shows a steady increase in the search term “Electric Generators”. The latest data point at the time of writing, for 10 February, had the highest search rate in the past 30 days. The trend is expected to increase in the coming load-shedding period.

Below is the live updating graph from Google Trends of the search term “Electric Generators”:

Vumatel has also addressed concerns around load-shedding and connectivity in an email sent to its customers. The fibre infrastructure provider pointed out that its entire network is backed up by generators, meaning that homes with generators will remain connected during load-shedding.

To do this, Vumatel recommends using at least a 1KVa uninterrupted power supply (UPS) or generator to power one’s home fibre equipment for up to 4 hours (Stage 2). This includes powering the customer premise equipment (the white Raycore or Huawei device), the WiFi router it plugs into and one other device.

Bear in mind that additional equipment, like Smart TVs and DSTV decoders, will in combination need a UPS or generator of at least 3KVa.