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By Cornelia Le Roux

Digital Deputy News Editor


Hey, Big Spender! Black Friday shopper blows R800k in one go…

In just one foul swipe of a credit card, one Black Friday shopper parted with more than R800k... Take a look at SA's biggest spenders so far.


Mzansi’s bargain hunters and trolley dashers (those in shopping aisles and online) have joined in the annual retail frenzy of Black Friday since the early hours of this morning. While most consumers have been forced to tighten their purse strings this year, some shoppers have been indulging in exorbitant splurging sprees.

Black Friday 2023’s biggest spenders so far…

As of 3pm on Friday, the highest single transaction reflected on digital payment platform Ozow’s dashboard amounted to an eye-watering R818 000.

Ozow shared with MyBroadband that the transaction was for a travel package.

Two other customers, with deep pockets, spent in excess of R400 000 each. One of them parted with R429 000 through a single transaction, while the other big spender racked up a bill of R405 000 across 24 payments.

The person who forked out R429 000 currently holds the title of the highest daily spend by a single consumer in the retail sector.

Early start

According to Ozow, however, some big spenders already blasted out of the starting blocks on Thursday, when several South African retailers offered early-access promotions.

By 2pm on Thursday, the largest single Ozow Instant EFT transaction was R258 000, while no less than three customers spent more than R500 000 across several transactions each.

ALSO READ: Consumers expected to spend about R7 billion more this Black Friday

Black Friday biggest spenders throwback

The biggest single Black Friday transaction over the past three years was made in 2021, when BankservAfrica recorded a R4 million transaction.

Black Friday 2022 saw at least two customers spend more than R1 million through a single transaction, with the highest amounting to a whopping R1.88 million, as per MyBroadband.

However, with several hours of shopping madness to go, 2023’s contenders might still shatter that 2021 “Black Friday big spender record”…

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