Payment gateway Peach Payments saw an increase of more that 103% in online shopping payment volume on Black Friday, compared to last year.
Over the Black Friday to Cyber Monday period, Peach Payments processed over R250-million.
Rahul Jain, co-founder and CEO of Peach Payments, says the big winner this Black Friday was, unsurprisingly, retail.
Some stats from Black Friday (26 November) include:
* Retail sales through Peach Payment’s gateway on Friday alone increased from R31,7-million in 2020 to 56,7-million (up 78%).
* Food & beverage increased 91% while fintech was a big winner with a 240% increase over 2020.
* Beauty online shopping sales increased 40% while travel & accommodation rose up 52%. This was a strong signal for the optimism in the economy only to be jeopardised by the recent Omicron variant and travel ban on several southern African countries.
“When we take a closer look at retail, we start seeing interesting payment method patterns,” says Jain. “Card payments far outstripped all other payment methods, demonstrating that South Africans are becoming more aware of the security benefits offered by cards over methods like EFT.
“If a consumer pays with a card, they are inherently protected against situations like non-delivery by the merchant due to features offered by the card schemes like Visa and Mastercard. Buy Now Pay Later solutions were also adopted by consumers in large numbers as they look to access alternative sources of credit,” he adds.
Compared to 2020, the volume of card payments increased by 105%, reinforcing this point. Other payment methods like QR codes, Apple Pay and Mobicred are all also gaining traction in the digital commerce space.
In 2020 in South Africa, the percentage of retail made up by online retail sales came to 2,8%, according to World Wide Worx, while Statista shows that in the US this hit a peak of 15,7%. This demonstrates the massive upside available for digital commerce in South Africa and also across Africa.
“This year’s Black Friday record figures show positive signs for the future of ecommerce in South Africa and the rest of Africa,” says Jain. “Year on year growth during this popular shopping period will undoubtedly continue thanks to online payments becoming synonymous with a successful retail strategy.
“Africa has more than 60% of its population under 25 and these users are the future of commerce on the continent. They are mobile and digital first consumers who will leapfrog legacy commerce and physical retail by rapidly adopting digital commerce. This is very exciting for us as a business. We believe digital commerce is a $1-trillion opportunity in Africa over the next decades and we’re still on day one,” he concludes.