CAPE TOWN - South Africa has topped the global list of having the most online searches for the annual biggest discount shopping event, Black Friday, according to Google data.
A local e-tailer PriceCheck on Tuesday said that, over the last few years since Black Friday was introduced to South Africa, the country has seen extreme growth which shows no signs of slowing down.
“This year the big day falls on November 29, while Cyber Monday falls on December 2. This will be a boon for retailers looking to take advantage of payday spending,” said PriceCheck chief executive, Chloe Lötter.
Lötter said PriceCheck saw a massive increase in users day-on-day on Black Friday, with more than 82,500 unique products clicked over the campaign week, and over 2.2 million people using the popular comparison tool to find the best bargains.
South African online purchasing behaviour has shown that consumers tend to go for trust over price point, making it an ideal time of the year for online stores to establish credibility and delight their existing customers, PriceCheck said.
According to Greg le Roux, chief executive of e-commerce site Loot, the Black Friday weekend itself is the culmination of months of hard work, all building to that midnight moment that has come to define the festive shopping season in the online world.
“We look forward to delivering another frenzied dose of massive savings to our valued customers and partners this Black Friday,” he said.
Well known South African online marketplace and auction site bidorbuy has also reported record sales during this period.
“In 2018, we saw high double-digit year-on-year sales growth in our home and living category, while toys and sport and leisure broke into our top categories,” said marketing manager, Anne-Marie Green.
Clynton McCalgan, head of digital at popular retailer Superbalist said the growth seen over the last few years was extreme and showed no signs of slowing down.
“Despite having been involved in this period for years and building efficiencies into tackling the monster that is Black Friday, we always find new, ambitious projects and things we never thought of in previous years, so it is always a fresh new challenge,” said McCalgan.
Clicks chief commercial officer, Rachel Wrigglesworth said the manner in which people shop in the run-up to Christmas has completely changed.
“Customers plan far in advance of the event and set aside savings to spend during this period. Google data shows us that customers start searching weeks before the event.”