How the face of Black Friday changes

Online buying gives some relief for the flailing economy, up 50% compared with last year.

Although there were not many queues at brickand-mortar shops on Black Friday, online buying offered some relief for the flailing economy. The single biggest transaction of the day was a whopping R299 950, with online sales increasing 50% compared with last year.

Black Friday was off to a slow start and the impact of lockdown was clear when the day’s sales started, with total spend decreasing 63% and trading volumes falling 33% compared with last year in the first minute after the clock struck midnight.

This was the opposite of last year, when a shopping frenzy between midnight and 2am showed how eager people were to shop.

This year, sales in the first two hours saw 40% less transactions, with a total value of 59% lower than last year. But by 8am, people started shopping online and buying for the day peaked in the same hour as last year with 39% more money spent at R38 million.

“This continued throughout the day, with a second peak reached in terms of the number of transactions, processed between 7pm and 8pm when people returned home from work,” says Karen Nadasen, chief executive of PayU South Africa and chair of the E-commerce Forum of South Africa (EFSA).

According to PayU, trading volumes in South Africa grew by 14.1% over the 24-hour period, compared with last year, while trading volumes in the days from the Monday before Black Friday were 9.1% higher than last year.

Although these figures are an improvement on last year, they are not as dramatic as the previous regarding year-on-year growth. However, PayU notes these volumes are still approximately 400% higher than on a normal shopping day.

The pandemic has forced consumer to get better acquainted with online shopping, but it has also hit household budgets. Many companies also extended Black Friday deals to more days to ensure more space in shops for social distancing.

A total of 95% of transactions were paid for by card, an increase of 11.9%. However, mobile transactions were only up an average of 60% of transactions, while it has been between 75% and 85% since the start of lockdown.

The retailers are smiling because they got 79% of the day’s trade, 19% more than last year. The beauty industry’s volumes also increased by 59% and fashion by 117%. Travel agents were not so happy, with just 11% of transactions for travel, which is quite a lot less than last year’s 20%.

“While there were infrastructure problems for some retailers and PayU were able to come in and assist, for the most part, things were pretty stable for merchants,” says Nadasen.

“PayU moved to the cloud several months ago and this aided us greatly. We also are fortunate to have a backup for our backup.”

“E-commerce during Covidseems to be one of the very few bright spots in an otherwise disastrous economic and health environment,” says Alastair Tempest, CEO at EFSA. “This year’s lockdown has driven many consumers to shop online but the measure of success this year is that more and more South Africans are learning to trust online shopping

Online payment gateway, PayFast, also believes that online shopping boosted Black Friday with total online transaction volumes increasing 50% compared to last year. The company processed a 283% increase in total payment volumes on Black Friday alone, compared with a normal busy day such as payday.

“This year’s Black Friday spend surpassed the volumes seen in previous years. The rapid adoption of e-commerce over the course of 2020 has meant that more people were shopping online, especially amid fears of a Covid-19 resurgence,” says Jonathan Smit, managing director and founder of PayFast.

Online shoppers spent more per basket, at R1 243, compared to the average basket value of R803 for 2020.

PayFast also found that 66% of transactions were done with a mobile device. This year, 66% of transactions were made using cards, but alternative online payment options are on the rise.

“Instant EFT, QR codes and mobile wallets are becoming more popular as consumers become more comfortable shopping online,” says Smit.

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