The Herald (South Africa)

SA embraces Black Friday like no other, stats suggest

- Wendy Knowler

NO nation embraces Black Friday more than South Africa‚ if internatio­nal discounts website picodi.com’s stats are anything to go by.

“Website sessions jumped 936% last November‚” Picodi said.

“This activity may reflect the nation’s burgeoning internatio­nal e-commerce interest‚ with as much as 43% of the adult population buying products from abroad online.”

The site‚ which harnesses discount deals from retailers around the globe‚ analysed its internatio­nal e-commerce data over the past three years for November and Black Friday specifical­ly.

“Our figures offer an extraordin­ary glimpse into the flurry of activity that takes place on Black Friday globally‚” Picodi said.

“Clothing‚ electronic­s‚ books‚ perfume and children’s toys were the most bought categories for Black Friday shoppers using Picodi.

“Compared to the average number of transactio­ns occurring on all other days of the year‚ South Africans made 16 226% more purchases on our site‚ more than twice as large a percentage increase as that of any other country.”

The top Black Friday brands in South Africa were Edgars‚ Woolworths and Pick n Pay.

Greece’s transactio­ns increased roughly 7 293% above its average daily rate‚ while purchases in Pakistan‚ Mexico‚ and Nigeria each jumped between 3 000% and 4 400% as well.

Interestin­gly‚ Black Friday surges were somewhat limited in some of the world’s wealthiest nations‚ such as Germany and the United Kingdom.

“While the effects of the shopping holiday were significan­t in these countries‚ some reports indicate that Black Friday enthusiasm may have cooled in Western Europe‚” Picodi said.

But plenty of deal-hunting happens elsewhere on the continent‚ such as Finland’s 700% spike.

Major American companies are among the most popular brands worldwide‚ Picodi said.

Amazon was a hit in both Spain and Mexico and Nike was the top Black Friday brand in both Germany and Portugal.

But Asian e-commerce giant Lazada was the most popular brand of all‚ ranking first in Vietnam‚ Thailand‚ the Philippine­s‚ Malaysia‚ and Indonesia. – TimesLIVE

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from South Africa