WATCH: Can Jozi challenge Dubai as a world shopping destination?
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. Can Jozi challenge Dubai as a world shopping destination? Shanthini Naidoo spent time with influential spenders from around the continent who took the city on with plastic in hand
Image: MOELETSI MABE
There are shoppers, and then there are people who love to shop. Motswana fashion blogger Gwen Isaacs, 31, loves to shop. We know this because she has prepared a mood board for her week-long Joburg shopping trip.
"Pastels for spring, you see? I am shopping for next season," Isaacs says, showing her collage of catwalk styles, make-up, shoes and accessories. She tried on a pair of patent, neutral brogues at a boutique in Joburg's Oriental Plaza. They appear on her Instagram feed later in the day: "Died at the shoe sales. These were practically free!"
Isaacs and five other African social media "influencers" - fashion, make-up and style experts from Lagos to Nairobi - were in South Africa for the recent Joburg Shopping Festival.
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This collaboration between Gauteng Tourism Authority, the City of Joburg and sponsors is in its third year. They call it a "retail sales bonanza", and it aims to drive tourists to the province's malls and tourist sites.
Their unmissable pink-and-yellow boards plastered Sandton City, Nelson Mandela Square, the Oriental Plaza, East Rand Mall and Rosebank Mall, throwing away prizes of cars, watches, holidays and masses of Bubbly chocolate at consumers. Scheduled during the winter sales, it was a clever value-add to the existing season.
The creators, Mojanation, say the event is unashamedly modelled on the Dubai Shopping Festival, which has been going for 21 years. They want a piece of the R2-billion pie that the Middle East has held steadfast.
Visitors from 23 countries flock to the Emirate for the festival, which started off with a zero-budget and an idea from the Sheik. With unique, opulent malls, discounts on high-end designer brands which otherwise rarely go on sale, paired with the desert safari experience, the Dubai festival has been a consumer tourist's dream in spite of the heat and the (slowly relaxing) alcohol restrictions.
The hopeful believe Joburg can offer a similar, more metropolitan experience. Emulating the Dubai event, it will be about retail tourism, marketing the city as a multifaceted destination.
Festival director Tiekie Barnard said: "We are calling it 'Africa's signature shopping event'. The vision is for it to become just that, but we are not there yet.
I am very patriotic, but there is no shopping culture in Nigeria. No high street, nothing. We can buy lace or fabric, but I want Zara, Mac, Bobbi Brown, in air-conditioning
"The festival was created to attract visitors from the African continent and in doing so get them to stay longer, spend money and grow the economy. We are in our third year, and it is now that we start gaining traction. We know that building a brand takes more than five years."
This year, they directed their energies towards the Chinese tourism market through financial partner, UnionPay. It makes sense.
South Africa has the sixth-highest number of malls in the world. Sandton City alone sees average annual foot traffic of more than 25 million visitors, 12% of them tourists.
Nonnie Kubeka, head of the Gauteng Conventions and Events Bureau, said: "The festival supports not only the tourism sector, but also retail, design and manufacturing. Gauteng is Africa's shopping hub. So it is the natural choice."
But it depends on the message travelling across the continent. That was the job for the visiting team of social media stars. They were invited from the economic epicentres and neighbouring countries Nigeria, Kenya, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Visiting blogger Lola Ojetola, a British-born Nigerian beauty entrepreneur with a 100k-strong Instagram following, says Joburg's big brands are a drawcard for shoppers from her end of the world. Their coffers are filling up, with little outlet, especially in terms of retail.
"I am very patriotic, but there is no shopping culture in Nigeria. No high street, nothing," the former Londoner says from under her metre-long eyelashes, her signature import into that country. High-end make-up is also largely unavailable in Nigeria, but the demand for fashion and beauty is growing.
"We can buy lace or fabric, yeah, but I want Zara, Mac, Bobbi Brown, in air-conditioning. I am all about these sales," Ojetola said.
"I have visited before for work purposes, but never have I experienced the city in such a vibrant way. My overall experience of Joburg as a shopping and tourism destination was fabulous. Visiting the various malls was a great eye-opener, from the local markets to the luxury shops."
Local personality K Naomi Noinyane said: "If you are not from SA, there is authenticity in the culture that is uniquely Joburg."
Joy Kendi, a fashion and lifestyle blogger who grew up in the US, said: "Being based in Nairobi, this was one of the highlights of my shopping year. I had access to shops that don't exist in Kenya, such as Zara, H&M, Topshop.
In Kenya, international clothing brands are extremely limited and ridiculously overpriced. Even Mr Price is more expensive at home. So getting a chance to shop in some of my favourite stores and not getting a wallet heart attack was an amazing feeling."
"As for the tourism ... let's just say I have already started to plan my next trip in the next month or so. Johannesburg is not like any city I've ever visited before - everything from the food, culture, night life, the people ..."
Ojetola and Kendi paired up at the historic and ethnic Oriental Plaza, which neither had heard of before. "I did not know what to expect. But I feel like there are things here that we won't find in regular malls," Ojetola said.
At the Aladdin's cave of clothing and linen that is the Rajshree Boutique, they were lost in the masses of local and Thai versions of shweshwe designs.
Isaacs, who visits the city quarterly for personal shopping, said she would not normally include a visit to the Plaza, but was pleased with her purchases.
"I know this is a destination for Africans, it is an alternative experience to the malls." And there are samosas. Zimbabwean fashion blogger Ameera "Mimi" Murad Ameer was on the hunt for boots. "We know people drive over the border to shop, but Joburg is an hour-and-a-half flight from home.
It is quicker than driving to some places in Zim. I try to come once a year because it is actually affordable to shop in Joburg for brands and bargains. The duties we pay at the malls in Zimbabwe justify the transport costs; it is that simple," she said.
The influencers were enthralled with jewellery from local designers Maria McCloy and Pichulik at the Work Shop New Town in the CBD, where they spent much of their time.
During lunch at the Potato Sheds, Windhoek-based Sean Kamiti said the city's crime reputation was a concern, but only before he arrived. "Joburg as a shopping experience. I love it. But it is not what I thought it would be. I imagined hiding my phone, people carrying guns.
"Johannesburg is on par with the US, Paris, London," said Kamiti.
"What I am enjoying though, is the local designers."
David Tlale hosted the group to a chocolate and champagne evening, and dressed them for a photoshoot.
After helicopter rides around the city, visits to big malls and some night clubbing, the team was weary. But their energy picked up for a Friday afternoon visit and street fashion shoot in Vilakazi Street, Soweto.
"Mingling with the locals in Soweto was such a pleasant and heart-warming experience, I will never forget it. I loved the traditional South African food and the music.
What stood out for me were the people. From the Uber driver to the hotel staff, the people of Joburg were so forthcoming in sharing information about their country and culture," said Ojetola.
Kendi said: "Soweto was something else. The people were unbelievably nice, the food was amazing, the lively streets put a huge smile on my face and getting a chance to tour Mandela house will stay with me forever."
Festival project manager Nikki van Rensburg said the team were successful in highlighting Joburg as a convenient, budget-friendly shopping destination.
"The Gautrain, Rea Vaya public transport, cultural events, museums and events are part of the package. It is everything South Africans know about Joburg. What's not to love?"
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