CAPE TOWN, South Africa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PayU GPO, the leading online payment service provider operating in over 50 emerging markets, today releases new data on Black Friday’s significant impact on the African e-commerce landscape. As consumers grapple with rising inflation and a higher cost of living, the discount event has proved even more popular than in 2023.
Total e-commerce purchase activity increased by 130% in South Africa compared to the average Friday in 2024, demonstrating strong consumer appetite for the time sensitive deals offered on Black Friday.
In comparison to Black Friday 2023, total transaction value increased by 14%, demonstrating that consumer interest in the e-commerce event continues to grow.
The average basket size this year increased by 5% year-on-year, averaging R1946.
Black Friday is a particularly significant event for the beauty industry and 2024 was no exception. A frenzy of purchasing activity led to the number of e-commerce sales in this sector being 125% higher than the average Friday this year. While the peak was on Black Friday itself, many retailers extended Black Friday deals to cover the whole week.
The lion's share of Black Friday spend went towards electronics (40%), with travel and tourism (30%) and fashion (14%) following closely. Travel and tourism saw larger total purchase values this year, with higher than average spending in the R200 000 - R 400 000 range.
Sales of electronics aligned with the cost of living and inflation being a driving factor in Black Friday shopping. While the number of transactions in this vertical was significantly higher than last year, showing that more people were buying electronic goods, the average basket value decreased by 5% year-on-year. This shows that in 2024, consumers opted for more affordable items.
Unsurprisingly, most transactions were completed on card (84%). However, PayU GPO data continues to reflect a steady annual decline in card preference. Black Friday 2022 saw 93% of payments made by card; this declined to 87% in 2023 and a further 3% this year.
Conversely, EFT Open Banking payment methods saw promising adoption. In particular, CapitecPay transactions increased by 104% compared to 2023, whilst instant EFT (screen scraping) transactions saw a decline of 15%.
A key takeaway for e-commerce retailers is that the ease of use of new Open Banking solutions and ‘one click’ or tokenised card payment methods achieved the highest conversation rates.
Alternative payment options also boosted merchant sales on the day. BNPL methods such as Payflex and RCS saw a year-on-year increase of 86% and loyalty payment options like Discovery Miles and eBuck grew by 39%.
Also in line with general e-commerce trends was the rise in purchases completed on mobile phones, which increased by 5% compared to the previous year. This represented 67% of all Black Friday transactions in South Africa.
Karen Nadasen, CEO, PayU South Africa comments: “In Africa, where e-commerce continues to demonstrate strong and consistent growth, Black Friday is a significant retail event. Our data shows that consumers payment preferences continue to evolve and expand, but also, crucially, that merchants are adapting to these changing demands and offering the payment methods that their customers want. I’m delighted that we were able to pivot to alternatives during disruptions to provide the most robust and continuous payment processing and the highest approval rates to date.”
About PayU GPO
For the last 20 years, PayU GPO has been a leading online payment service provider, operating in 50+ high-growth markets in Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe, dedicated to creating cutting-edge financial services tailored to the needs of over 450,000 merchants and millions of consumers. PayU GPO is focused on empowering people through financial services and creating a world without financial borders where everyone can prosper.
As an online payment service provider, it deploys hundreds of payment methods and PCI certified platforms to process approximately 10 million payments every single day. It also specialises in innovative consumer and small business solutions that improve access to credit and banking services in markets that are underserved by traditional financial services providers.
For more information, please visit: https://corporate.payu.com/
