Black Friday grows strong in South Africa
Takealot’s doing it, Samsung’s doing it, Pick n Pay’s doing it and it’s paying off.
Last year retail sales staged a comeback when generating R85bn for the sector. This represented a 10% jump from November 2015 sales, which economists attributed to Black Friday in South Africa.
Black Friday South Africa
According to Google Trends, South Africa registered the highest search interest for “Black Friday” in the world over the past 12 months, with the US coming in second. Each year more brands get on board and the convenience of shopping for consumers get easier with technology. Mentions of Black Friday among South African social media users leapt by more than 300%, and Facebook data shows that Black Friday is officially South Africa’s busiest online shopping day of the year!
Checkers was the first retailer to bring Black Friday, a US sales day, to South African shores in 2014. Shoprite Checkers’ Marketing Director stated that they served more than one million customers on Black Friday in 2014, while 2016 was the biggest yeaer for Black Friday at Checkers, with 40% more products on offer than the previous year. “The most popular deals, as expected were the products with the biggest discounts – Coke, Weetbix and Pampers namppies.”
In 2015, Black Friday was significant for Takealot as the revenue generated was up to R17.5 million and doubled to R56 million in 2016. They are expecting between R80 million to R130 million this year which will depend on how the day goes. “It is a big day for us,” said Kim Reid, CEO of Takealot. Grant Brown, MD of Zando, biggest fashion retailer in South Africa mentioned that 30% of shoppers on Zando’s previous Black Friday, were new customers. According to the Data Products team at Absa, card spend increased by 81% on Black Friday in 2015 when compared to sales on the average day throughout the year.
In 2017, more South African companies, online and brick-and-mortar, are participating, running multi-day specials and one-day-only deals on the 24th November. Black Friday is officially a thing in South Africa and it’s only 3 days away while everyone is getting ready for sales to skyrocket once again this upcoming Friday the 24th of November 2017.
References:
#BlackFriday: The ultimate guide to over 50 online sales. URL: https://www.fin24.com/Tech/Gadgets/blackfriday-the-ultimate-guide-to-over-50-online-sales-20161124
#BlackFriday: Takealot ready for ‘exam time’ URL:
https://www.fin24.com/Companies/Retail/blackfriday-takealot-ready-for-exam-time-20171115
100+ stores hosting Black Friday 2016in South Africa – don’t’ miss out! URL: https://www.nichemarket.co.za/blog/tag/crm/
Black Friday search interest in South Africa is highest in the world. URL: https://mybroadband.co.za/news/internet/238260-black-friday-search-interest-in-south-africa-is-highest-in-the-world.html
Black Friday tips for cyber-shoppers as discount season kicks off
Black Friday shopping saves SA’s retail sales from disaster
https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/economy/2017-02-15-sas-retail-sales-edge-slightly-higher-in-december/
