South Africans took to online shopping platforms in their numbers on Black Friday, with transaction growth outpacing physical retail, local banks have reported. Absa said that while the average basket size of in-store purchases increased 24% to R496 on Black Friday, through its channels, the average online basket has increased 25% to R827 year on year. Tumelo Ramugondo, head of credit card at Standard Bank SA, noted more online spend as opposed to in-store spend, with card-not-present transaction volumes contributing 22% of volumes compared with 12% in the 2024 Black Friday weekend.
Findings from the banks are in line with recent data by the E-commerce Forum of SA (Efsa), which reported that e-commerce in the country has grown from 1% tonearly 10% of retail sales in just five years. “As anticipated, our data reflects a more cautious yet informed consumer when it comes to spending,” said Andrew Wilmot, executive for payments acceptance at Absa Business Banking. While interest rate relief offers some breathing room, consumers remain focused on managing their budgets responsibly as we approach the festive season “Consistent with a trend we’ve observed over the past few years, retailers are increasingly spreading their offers across the entire Black November period.
This is reflected in consumer spending behaviour, with shoppers increasingly more discerning and looking for value. While interest rate relief offers some breathing room, consumers remain focused on managing their budgets responsibly as we approach the festive season.” Business Day previously reported that retailers were heading into a subdued Black Friday trading period,with research firm NIQ warningthat meaningful year-on-year growth had all but disappeared from one of the country’s biggest retail events. After years of double-digit surges, NIQ said Black Friday had reached a saturation point, with sales volumes and revenue across technology and durables expected to be largely flat compared with 2024.
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