The shopping frenzy from Black Friday weekend in South Africa has continued into Cyber Monday.
Cyber Monday is a marketing term for e-commerce transactions on the Monday after Black Friday.
PayFast’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday dashboard, a live payment data tracker that monitored transactions, recorded R397 217, split over two purchases by one single shopper, as the largest transaction value on Black Friday.
PayFast said it was chosen by over 80 000 merchants with e-Commerce, invoicing, event ticketing, and donation-accepting tools.
Overall, the number of transactions PayFast processed increased by 20% compared to the previous year. The company's gateway solution PayGate saw a slightly bigger increase in total payment volumes at 24%.
On Cyber Monday, the tracker indicated the highest spend at 9am was R200 000, spread over four transactions.
Below is the highest amounts spent on Cyber Monday by 9am:
The above graphic shows the most amount of transactions done by a single shopper, who spent R4 522.
Below, the biggest basket values shopped on Cyber Monday are indicated:
According to recent research by the Bureau of Market Research on behalf of fintech funder Capital Connect, about R17.3 billion in additional sales were anticipated from South African retailers during the Black Friday promotional period.
This forecast represented a 6.7% increase over the Black Friday period in 2021.
Appliances and electronics remained popular Black Friday purchases.
Hirsch special projects and IT manager Craig Smith said South Africa’s retail sector experienced an important shift when the Black Friday tradition entered the local landscape, most notably the introduction of a large spike in trading volume during November, peaking around the day itself.
“A few years ago, everything built up to the festive season, but since the introduction of Black Friday, November is a crazy time of the year. While December volumes are still good, November has surged in importance for retailers, and it is crucial that they are sufficiently prepared,” said Smith.
You can view the live online spend tracker portal by clicking here.
BUSINESS REPORT