Black Friday spending sizeably more this year

Black Friday spending was sizeably more this year compared to 2021, with 42% more transactions that last year, marking the return of the Black Friday bumper spend as midnight and intra-day deals exceeded the 2021 figures. Online sales emerged as the clear winner, tracking significantly higher growth. 

BankservAfrica logged a total of 1.2 million transactions worth over R1 billion on 3D-Secure*, BankservAfrica’s online card authentication service.

“This is a sizeable growth of 42% more transactions than the 737 985 total in 2021,” says Martin Grunewald, chief business officer at BankservAfrica.

“In the hours between 1am and 5am, BankservAfrica recorded more than double the number of transactions compared to the same period in 2021, when shopping picked up from 6am. Shortly after lunchtime, BankservAfrica’s 3D Secure transaction volume was almost the same as the full-day transactions processed in 2021.”

The total volume of Card POS sales amounted to 6.3 million, representing a 21% growth from the 5.2 million in 2021, while the total value of transactions amounted to R3.9 billion, showing a 16% growth from 2021 (R3.3 billion).

According to BankservAfrica’s overall Card Point-of-Sale (POS) transactional data, by 1am, the hourly recorded transactions were 268% higher than in 2021 at 21 719 (2021: 5 905). In the next hour, at 2am, this year-on-year growth was 238% at 14 533 (2021: 4 299).

ALSO READ: FNB customers spent most in four years on Black Friday

Peak of Black Friday shopping frenzy

The shopping frenzy peaked between 4pm and 5pm with 526 595 card swipes. The most swipes by one card were 827, while the highest unique successful transaction by credit card was for an online transaction valued at R1.6 million and R739 600 for an online purchase via debit card.

Online daily deals site OneDayOnly.co.za also saw an increase of more than 100% in sales compared to last year, with more than double the units ordered in 2021. Among the most popular items were vacuum cleaners, memory foam pillows, collagen powder kits and the popular Samsung 256GB Galaxy Note 10 Smartphone.

The top items in terms of units sold were hygiene essentials and toiletries, an Uber Eats app promo for first-time users, Bravecto tick and flea protection tablets for dogs and collagen powder loading kits.

Laurian Venter, director at OneDayOnly.co.za, says a review of the day’s bestsellers and top 10 items reveals that South Africans were decidedly ‘utilitarian’ in their buying behaviour, opting for everyday household items.

Privesan Naidoo, executive for trading products at Nedbank, says the bank saw a notable year-on-year increase in overall acquiring volumes of a significant 38% from the levels of 2021.

“Our data reveals a massive year-on-year increase of 88% in online transactions on Black Friday, while the growth in physical purchases rose by 30% on Black Friday.”

Contactless payments saw growth of 39% on Black Friday. The biggest increase in spend proportion was seen amongst consumers in their 30s, which increased from 21% of total spend across Nedbank channels in 2021 to 27% in 2022.

The three most popular spend categories amongst consumers on Black Friday weekend were groceries and food, general shopping and clothing, followed closely by fuel, alcohol and furniture.

ALSO READ: Black Friday: Consumers focus on staples, instead of luxury goods

Biggest growth on Black Friday

Karen Nadasen, chairperson of the ECommerce Forum of South Africa (EFSA) and PayU CEO, says conservative growth of between 10-20% was expected, but ended up with the biggest growth and midnight shopping trends, with clients spending 58% more money this year and the highest increase going to furniture in the retail category, up a staggering 74%.

Basket sizes also increased by 54% in comparison to last year with bigger ticket items as the main shift, with consumer spending skyrocketing to increase 208% at the midnight hour, in comparison to last year on Black Friday.

“We saw a 408% increase in the usage of tokenized cards compared to last year, indicating the rising importance of easy checkout flow with regard to speed, trust and comfort. While credit cards accounted for 85% of total value spent online, 58% higher than before, the EFT payment method contribution to TPV was 25% lower than last year.”

She says this could potentially be due to the user experience and warnings from banks on screen scraping, or maybe even because of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), which saw a 255% growth since last year, cementing itself as a valuable option for consumers.

“Retail saw an increase of 56%, while electronics was up by 74%, furniture by 74% and fashion by 37%. Beauty, however, went down by 32%.”