SA’s first accredited shopper marketing course launches
This formally recognises shopper marketing – where brand strategy meets retail reality –as a specialist skillset in South Africa.
Di Wilson, managing director of Integer Hotspot and founder of SHOP! SA adds, “Shopper marketing has evolved into one of the most dynamic, data-driven and commercially powerful areas of marketing, yet formal learning opportunities have lagged.
“We created this course to fill this gap: to professionalise the discipline, elevate standards, and equip marketers with the skills to bridge insight, creativity and retail execution.”
Red and Yellow is a CHE-accredited private higher education institution headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa. It is also a is a member of Honoris United Universities.
International best practice
As a founding partner of Shop! SA, Integer\Hotspot built the curriculum in alignment with international best practice and members of any SHOP! chapter worldwide qualify for a 10% discount on enrolment.
With online modules, quizzes, and optional expert-led masterclasses, the accredited nine-module online programme team turns insights into measurable in-store execution.
The course blends practical learning with academic rigour. From decoding shopper behaviour and need states to using AI and smart retail technologies, participants will gain a future-ready toolkit for success in a rapidly evolving retail landscape.
The accredited programme (MICT Seta Category B 115792) equips marketing professionals, agency teams, and students with the tools to design, execute and measure shopper campaigns that influence behaviour and drive measurable results.
Enrolments open in early 2026. Individual and enterprise enrolments are available, including customised cohorts for brands and agencies.
Participants who complete the nine-module online course will receive a Red and Yellow Certificate of Completion and a Shop! SA Certificate in Shopper Marketing Excellence.
Natural fit
Red and Yellow managing director, Verusha Maharaj, says that the partnership is a natural fit for the institution.
“We teach cutting-edge skills through creative thinking and commercial logic.
This programme allows us to bring this philosophy to the shopper marketing value chain, pairing industry expertise with rigorous learning design.
“It gives teams job-ready capabilities, enabling them to plan, execute, and measure work that moves shoppers and the bottom line.”
Sonia Correia, strategic director at Integer\Hotspot, led the creation of the course content.
“Our agency’s expertise, gained through our decades of specialist experience, places us in the unique position of being able to help upskill the shopper marketing value chain.
“We’re both pleased and proud to be the knowledge partner behind this important contribution to our industry.”
The ultimate challenge
Shop! SA founding members Janet Kirkbride (Tiger Brands), Candice Schooling (Rainmaker Media), Siobhan O’Sullivan (Premier FMCG), and Wendy van Zyl (Libstar) were also involved in the creation of the course content.
Kirkbride believes that understanding how to drive conversion of purchases and consumption remains a gap in the industry, translating into blurred lines of organisational accountability, brand and customer growth strategies that lack impactful sales-out leadership, and campaigns, innovations, and pricing that fail to deliver meaningful ROI.
But, she says, this programme offers value to all business functions involved in demand generation.
Schooling says that shopper marketing isn’t just tactical, “Our industry is the strategic pivot for driving conversion, and this programme equips marketers to translate insights into specific outcomes at the shelf.”
O’Sullivan adds that engaging shoppers and converting them to a buyer is the ultimate challenge: “This course helps marketers close that loop.”
“Success today comes from understanding shopper behaviour and retail priorities, and aligning strategies for both brand and retailer objectives,” notes van Zyl.