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South African business has begun preparing for what looks to be another bumper Black Friday trading day, with sales predicted to be up 30% from last year, online largest payment service provider PayGate said on Tuesday.
PayGate data shows Black Friday interest has rapidly increased in SA
South Africa has like several other countries adopted “Black Friday”, the informal name for the day after Thanksgiving in the United States which marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. This year, it will fall on November 29.
Data from retail tracker Black Friday Global shows interest in Black Friday deals in South Africa has grown by 9,900% over the past five years, PayGate said in a statement on Tuesday.
“PayGate’s tracking of payments for Black Friday, meanwhile, shows the number of transactions doubling every year for the past three years, and payment clearing house BankservAfrica says it saw a 55% growth in transactions in 2018 compared to the previous year,” it said.
PayGate Black Friday: SA’s e-commerce growth continues to gradually increase
“PayGate expects 2019 Black Friday transactions to grow by 30% this year.”
PayGate
It, however, said South Africa’s e-commerce growth was generally coming off a very low base, has really taken off only in the past three years or so.
Black Friday sales are anticipated to gain a traction of 70%
The company said it had processed some 64% of Black Friday transactions last year, and expected this to rise to as much as 70% in 2019.
-African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa
