By Bongiwe Dlamini

MBABANE:South Africans have a very big drinking culture, especially during the festive season, The Citizen reported.

It has been reported that, the Trade Intelligence found that alcohol spending averages about R414 million per day, with the weekly average nearly tripling between Christmas and New Year.

But a report by Eighty20 Consulting found that, the week-long spending spike represents a critical commercial window in which understanding consumer behaviour, preferences, and purchasing patterns can separate market leaders from laggards. 

According to the World Health Organization, the world average consumption of alcohol is about 5.5 litres per person per year, with South Africa above the global mean at 7.8 litres, but below some European countries like Romania (17.1 litres) or Czechia (13.7 litres). 

The Citizen further reported that, when “the denominator is limited to drinkers only, South Africa ranks fifth globally, with an average of about 30 litres per drinker annually”.

But the report released earlier in the week surveyed twenty thousand (20 000) people and used several other datasets to figure out the preferences of South African alcohol consumption. 

It was found that 47% of adults consumed some form of alcohol in the past month, with beer as the top choice, particularly among men. 68% of weekly beer consumers were found to be male. 

“In terms of festive celebrations, Eighty20 used the GWI data, courtesy of YOUKNOW Technologies, which finds that for internet-enabled South Africans, wine is the top festive season choice, followed by cider and then spirits,” said Andrew Fulton, Director at Eighty20 as quoted by The Citizen.