[imagesource:pexels]

According to data from a live ticker dashboard that tracked Discovery Bank clients’ spending from midnight on Friday, November 29 to 11 p.m. that same day, Woolworths won the lion’s share of Discovery Bank customer spending among physical retailers, beating Checkers and Pick n Pay, which came in second and third, respectively.

Takealot, on the other hand, ranked first in terms of client spending among online businesses. Checkers Sixty60, finished in second position, with Amazon South Africa coming in third. Local is lekker, suck it, Jeff.

On average, customers used 25% of their total spend on food and drink, compared to 13% on recreation, 11% on homeware, 11% on transport and travel, and 9% on health and personal care.

Discovery Bank also recorded the single biggest transaction on the day as R400,200.

Predictably, those who made purchases online tended to spend much more than in-store clients. Average online spending was about R935/person, while those braving the cues in stores averaged about R513.

Another interesting marker was that the average spend did not vary all that much between Cape Town, Joburg and Durban, the only variation being the age of shoppers.

Those under the age of 25 spent an average of R274 in stores and R479 online, while customers aged 61 and older spent an average of R735 in physical stores and R1,506 online.

While Woolies and Takealot smiled all the way to the bank on Black Friday, the bank itself, in this case, Discovery Bank, also had something to smile about as their clients spent more during this year’s Friday madness than they did in 2023.

With Woolies and Discovery being tight, the results were perhaps predictable, although even Absa posted record spending by its clients on the day, saying “Absa experienced a record-breaking start to Black Friday 2024, reporting a remarkable 20% increase in transactions compared to the same period in 2023.”

Their biggest single transaction for the day was R638,000, although what that was spent on was not revealed.

Data also showed South Africans were more leisurely about their Black Friday shopping in 2024 than in 2023. Along with midnight deal-hunting, after-hours shopping also took a dip, with transaction levels 8% lower year on year.

[source:techcentral]