Despite consumers facing a tough economic climate in 2023, they still took advantage of online Black Friday sales to purchase essential items and gifts ahead of the festive season.
According to Payfast data from the Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) period, we noted that QR payment methods saw a significant increase compared to 2022. Specifically, Zapper increased by 63%.
Other key findings we noted based on our anonymised data was that reflective of the current economic climate, consumers chose to shop primarily with retailers specialising in general merchandise, food from convenience stores, family clothing and discount store items.
On Black Friday, the largest transaction value for the day was R627,000 compared to R284,625 last year, and the average basket size was R1,689 compared to R1,250 last year.
This year transactions peaked on Black Friday between 9am and 10am, the same as 2022. Meanwhile, on Cyber Monday transactions also peaked between 9am and 10am, compared to 10am and 11am in 2022.
Another point of interest is that consumers chose to do the majority of their online shopping on their mobile devices. According to our data, over the BFCM period, 72% of total transactions were made on mobile phones versus 28% on desktop. On Black Friday specifically, 68% of transactions were made on mobile while Cyber Monday saw 65% mobile usage. This once again demonstrates the importance of having a mobile optimised website.
We hope you had a profitable Black Friday and wish you all the best for the festive season and New Year.
