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By Gareth Cotterell

Digital Editor


Black Friday: One South African spends R397 217 on two items

The online shopper that recorded the most purchases on Black Friday made 36 transactions.


While most South Africans are trying to tighten their belts, at least one person was happy to splash the cash on Black Friday.

Biggest online transaction on Black Friday

According to PayFast’s BFCM tracker, a live dashboard keeping track of online purchases, the highest amount spent by an online shopper so far is almost R400 000.

The person spent R397 217 on two undisclosed items between 3am and 4am in the morning. One of the items cost R284 625.

The next highest amount spent by a single person was R51 000 for four items.

The top five amounts are rounded off by purchases of R38 633, R27 796 and R24 740.

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Most purchases

The online shopper that recorded the most purchases on Black Friday made a total of 36 transactions.

The total amount spent by this person was R3 600.

The average basket value for online Black Friday shoppers is R1 365.

WATCH: Queues at Mall of Africa at 12am on Black Friday

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Biggest spenders by province

According to PayFast, shoppers from Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal have spent the most money so far.

The Northern Cape and Mpumalanga are the country’s lowest spending provinces by 4pm.

The most money was spent online between 9am and 10am, followed closely by the period between 8am and 9am.

Black Friday concept

South Africa initially adopted the Black Friday concept from the United States (US), offering deals on one day of the month, usually November, just in time for the upcoming December celebrations.

But the brutish behaviour of some customers and well as the damage caused to stores saw merchants starting to expand the timeframe on their sales.

The discounts seen in South Africa are generally not as much as seen in the US. They are, however, lower than usual, and generally over a period of a week.

Additional reporting from Devina Haripersad

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