Most expensive transactions for Black Friday recorded at R4-Million in Tshwane

A South African payments system has recorded more shoppers purchasing goods online on Black Friday and Cyber Monday with a consumer in Tshwane bagging goods valued at R4-million.

More deals were recorded than the previous year, according to data from 3D-Secure, BankservAfrica’s online card authentication service. This was as the 2021 volumes reflected higher year-on-year growth during the 2021 Black Friday and Cyber Monday season.

ALSO READ: Update: Wapadrand substation fails to re-energise

Chief business officer at BankservAfrica, Martin Grunewald, said: “Transactions that require customer authentication show the total number of transactions for Cyber Monday on November 29, 2021, amounted to 432 814, representing a 16% growth on the 372 777 volumes recorded in 2020.” “Similar improvements were reflected on Black Friday, which tracked 738 490 transactions on November 26, 2021.

This was a 17% year-on-year improvement on the 628 666 volumes in 2020,” Grunewald said. He said the total value of transactions for Black Friday was R1-billion compared to the R516-million recorded for Cyber Monday.

“The most expensive transactions for both Black Friday and Cyber Monday took place in Tshwane and were valued at the R4-million mark.” He said data showed that shopping was at the busiest at 11:00-12:00 on Cyber Monday and between 09:00-10:00 on Black Friday.

“The overall Black Friday and Cyber Monday online sales certainly performed slightly better than in 2020, which would have benefited retailers and consumers alike wanting to make the most out of this November period of bargains,” Grunewald said.

He said, however, it was important to note that the volumes shown for online sales did not account for transactions that shoppers may have done that did not require customer authentication. During the early morning on Black Friday 2021, Rekord saw relatively few shoppers and virtually no queues at major shopping points across Pretoria.

In the east of Pretoria, Black Friday had a slow uptake in some shopping centres as bargain hunters were not entirely convinced of the sales offered by most retailers. Makro Silverlakes and Menlyn mall, which Rekord visited, had far fewer turnouts in the morning compared to previous years. Shopper Thom Bronkhorst told Rekord his shopping experience had gone better than anticipated.

“My shopping went very well this Black Friday. It was quick and without hassles, as shops were light in foot traffic,” he said.

Bronkhorst said prices at stores were always too high; however, the Black Friday sale was reasonable and he managed to buy what he was looking for. “We always want to pay less, but what they promoted was great bargains that we could jump on as consumers.” Calen Hastie said his shopping went very quick. “It was like shopping on a normal day.”

Tsebo Kgatle said he went shopping on Black Friday as he spotted some bargains.

“I found a few bargains and shopping was easy, leading to no long queues and stampedes. I didn’t even feel like it was Black Friday.” In the north of Pretoria, things were also quiet.

There was no frenzy at Soshanguve Crossing where shoppers were seen going about their business like any other day.

Shoppers mostly queued for liquor, seemingly in fear of another Covid-induced lockdown.

Do you have more information about the story?

Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram