Data from 3D-Secure, BankservAfrica’s online card authentication service (i.e. transactions that require customer authentication), shows the total number of transactions for Cyber Monday on 29 November 2021 amounted to 432,814, representing a 16% growth on the 372,777 volumes recorded in 2020.
“Similar improvements were reflected on Black Friday, which tracked 738,490 transactions on 26 November 2021. This was a 17% year-on-year improvement on the 628,666 volumes in 2020,” says Martin Grunewald, chief business officer at BankservAfrica.
The total value of online transactions for Black Friday was R1bn compared to the R516m recorded for Cyber Monday.
BankservAfrica revealed that the most expensive transactions for both Black Friday and Cyber Monday took place in Tshwane and were valued at the R4m mark.
Online shopping was at the busiest at 11:00 – 12:00 on Cyber Monday and between 09:00 – 10:00 on Black Friday.
“The overall Black Friday and Cyber Monday online sales certainly performed slightly better than in 2020, which would have benefited retailers and consumers alike wanting to make the most out of this November period of bargains,” says Grunewald.
Last week, the company reported that overall sales volumes for Black Friday 2021 were up by 10%. The total Black Friday sales volumes improved by 10% on the previous year, as tracked by BankservAfrica’s overall card point-of-sale (POS) transactional data.
“Our overall numbers for Black Friday on 26 November 2021 show volumes were 5.2 million compared to the 4.7 million in 2020,” says Grunewald.
The total value of transactions was R3.3bn, representing a 17% growth from the R2.9bn for Black Friday 2020.
“With stores running Black Friday specials throughout the month, the fact that there has been an improvement on last year’s figures shows that Black Friday held some value for South African bargain hunters who chose to make the most of the specials on the day,” says Grunewald.
The shopping volumes peaked at 14:00 to reach 461,769, the highest for the day. The numbers, although performing well, began falling from 18:00 until midnight.
“Although the shopping volumes climbed for most of the day, the busiest times this year were between 11:00 – 17:00,” says Grunewald.
