Browsing by Author "Bundwini, Nqobile"

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    Attitudes towards church retailing in Cape Town, South Africa
    (2016) Bundwini, Nqobile; Lappeman, James R
    Religion and commerce are two concepts which give rise to divergent views when associated with each other. Nevertheless, churches are increasingly making use of commercial methods such as marketing and retailing for a vast array of purposes including fundraising, connecting with their congregation and keeping abreast of social, technological and economical changes. As such, the Christian retail industry is a booming industry which cannot be ignored. It is common practice for businesses to investigate various aspects of their target consumers in order to align their efforts to meet the consumers' needs. Likewise, it is necessary that churches that engage in retailing conduct a thorough analysis of their target market. Furthermore, church retailers should consider the peculiar nature of their consumers, which may be influenced not only by their short-term, product-based needs but by their long-term, spiritual needs as well. This research is important as individuals who view the retailing of certain products by churches negatively are unlikely to purchase from church retailers, and may even be unlikely to consider attending the churches that retail those products. In addition, this research will provide church retailers with insight into their consumers, enabling them to structure their retailing efforts more effectively. This study investigates the attitudes of church members toward church retailing, as well as attitudes towards various types of church retail products. A series of 26 in-depth interviews were conducted for this study, resulting in each individual expressing antithetical attitudes towards the broad concept of church retailing, with more distinct positive and negative attitudes emerging following further enquiry about particular product types. Generally, attitudes were more positive towards products perceived to be more authentic with regards to the religious mission of the church, and more negative toward products they perceive to stray from it. Furthermore, attitudes towards church retailing were influenced by what individuals perceive to be the churches' reasons for retailing, as well as the individuals or communities benefiting from the proceeds thereof. The principle inference emerging from this study is that the attitudes of church retail consumers are essential as they largely influence their likelihood to purchase and, in turn, the success of church retailers.
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    Exploring the impact of language on consumer-brand relationships across digital media
    (2021) Greyling, Caroline; Bundwini, Nqobile
    Within the marketing management sphere, consumer-brand relationship theory has attracted interest and academic research since its inception. One area that has been relatively unexplored, however, is the interplay between vernacular languages and consumer-brand relationships in a multilingual South Africa. Celebrated for its multicultural and multilingual identity, South Africa recognises eleven official languages with English predominantly used across marketing activities. Despite a variety of research projects aimed at exploring consumer-brand relationship theory, there remains a gap in the knowledge regarding how languages impact the relationships that consumers form with brands. Previous research has been centred on the Western and Asian markets and has failed to address the challenges of the diverse South African market. Consumers experience an emotional link and a sense of attachment to their home language. This paper postulates that this connection extends to consumer-brand relationships and that language choice can, therefore, impact the formation and development of brand relationships. This paper sought to explore this theory, using qualitative research methods. In-depth interviews were conducted in order to collect information about consumers' experiences and feelings regarding this topic. Fourteen participants from various language groups were asked a series of open-ended questions and their responses recorded. Results demonstrated that the use of first languages can influence how consumers respond to brands and can affect a number of elements identified in the brand-relationship quality model. The analysis found a link between language use and brand relationship theory, finding that the use of consumers' mother tongues can lead to consumers developing relationship qualities including love and passion, self-connection and commitment. This demonstrates that language can play a significant role in impacting consumer-brand relationships. We, therefore, infer that language can potentially impact consumer-brand relationships, and that language choice has the power to impact how consumers build relationships with brands.