South Africa’s Black Friday spend soars as shoppers chased big ticket savings

South Africans showed buying confidence this Black Friday as spending surged by 64% compared to last year, defying continued financial pressures and proving that strong deals still have the power to draw consumers back into the market.

Electronics emerged as the biggest winner, with sales tripling compared to last year.

Physical stores also outperformed online channels as shoppers opted for hands on evaluation of major purchases.

Industry analysts say this reflects the emotional nature of Black Friday shopping in South Africa, where customers still want to physically assess high value items before committing.

Health and beauty purchases soared to four times last year’s levels while home furnishings spending rose three and a half times.

Jewellery spending also tripled, highlighting pent up demand across discretionary categories.

Payment service providers recorded exceptional activity throughout the day.

Peach Payments, which has tracked Black Friday digital transactions in real time on its live dashboard, reported that its platform processed more than 80% of last year’s entire Black Friday weekend in just one day.

Chief Executive Officer Rahul Jain said the surge reflected the resilience of the South African shopper.

Jain said, "South Africans have shown again that when real value is placed in front of them they will act decisively. He added that the growth seen on the platform today signals a strong start to the festive trading period."

The largest single transaction recorded by Peach Payments on Friday was an eye-catching R1,090,756.00 recorded in the Travel and Tourism sector.

Jain said that such transactions show how digital payments now underpin big ticket purchases and that they demonstrate a strong level of trust from South African consumers.

Joshua Shimkin, Head of Marketing at Peach Payments, said the dashboard has become an important tool for merchants.

Shimkin said, "The dashboard builds consumer confidence and supports merchants who are scaling their operations during the busiest trading period of the year. He added that it also shows that South Africa has world class technologies that support both retail and business to business payments."

Growth in online retail has accelerated significantly ahead of the weekend.

According to the Online Retail in South Africa 2025 report produced by World Wide Worx in partnership with Mastercard, Peach Payments and Ask Afrika, e commerce turnover is expected to exceed R130 billion by the end of 2025 and approach 10% of the country’s total retail market.

The report shows that online retail grew by 35% in 2024 and has continued at an annualised rate of 38% this year, well ahead of physical retail growth.

Ecentric, another major payment provider, also launched its Black Friday Dashboard to provide insight into activity across millions of transactions.

Ecentric processes 20% of all card transactions in South Africa and supports 65% of JSE listed retailers.

Its dashboard provides year on year comparisons, payment trends and consumer behaviour shifts for both online and in store purchases across the Black Friday period.

In 2024 the Bureau of Market Research reported that November spending contributed more than R80 billion to the wholesale, retail and fuel sectors.

With both Peach Payments and Ecentric reporting substantial spikes in real time activity, analysts expect 2025 to surpass that performance.

With demand surging across every major retail category, experts believe this Black Friday may signal a stronger than expected festive trading season. Retail analysts say the combination of pent up demand and improved consumer confidence could provide a welcome lift for the broader economy.

BUSINESS REPORT