• South Africa’s ecommerce giant Takealot reports that this year’s Black Friday was a record-breaking endeavour for the group.
• It recorded over three million visits on the day, with the biggest single basket valued at R190 179.
• The most expensive items the group was selling on the day were Samsung 75” Smart TVs, with some models costing upwards of R100 000.

Ecommerce was expected to be a major player on this year’s Black Friday and for the future on the African continent, with estimates currently putting the industry at a value of $75 billion by 2025.

South Africa’s own ecommerce giant Takealot confirms that its Black Friday outing this year was a record-breaking one.

The annual one-day shopping craze saw the group experience a 33 percent growth year-on-year in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), the total value of merchandise sold over a given period of time, as well as more than 3 million visits on Friday 25th November.

“South Africans came out in their numbers to take advantage of Black Friday specials this year,” said Frederick Zeitsman, CEO at Takealot.

This year’s GMV has surpassed any other Black Friday in performance history, he says.

“From a top sellers and brands perspective, at takealot.com, we expected this Black Friday to be dominated by a demand for TVs, large appliances such as washing machines and dishwashers etc., loadshedding essentials (power stations, UPS), laptops, smart watches, fragrances, sports equipment as well as household essentials,” Zeitsman adds in a press release sent to us.

“This projection held true with these products being amongst the first to be snapped up when the clock struck midnight.”

Black Friday stats from Takealot

According to Takealot, the most orders placed by a single customer on the day was 58 orders and the biggest single basket value was R190 179.

The top item sold by units were bottles of Ballantine’s Finest Scotch Whiskey which normally retails for R255 on the platform.

Takealot’s top item sold by GMV on Black Friday, meaning the item that made the group the most money on the day, was the Hisense 58” Smart TV. This TV usually goes for just under R10 000, but it is still on sale as of the time of writing at R7 999.

However, the most valuable single item that Takealot was selling on the day was the Samsung 75” Smart TV. The most valuable one we could find listed on the site is outrageously expensive at R109 999 (currently at a discounted price of R94 699).

“We attribute the strong performance on takealot.com to the increased adoption of online shopping and the access it provides to retail, particularly as consumer behaviour has geared more strongly towards online buying trust, following the global pandemic,” explains Zeitsman.

Consumer behaviour

He continues that the group’s Black Friday performance data shows other interesting ‘check out’ consumer patterns and behaviours.

For example, Zeitsman reports strong site traffic seen at midnight on Black Friday which showed a high level of interest in being ‘first’ to access the deals on offer.

Orders were also consistently strong throughout the day with purchase peaks seen during the early morning, lunch time and early evening.

Takealot’s ‘First for South Africa’ 24-hour Live Shopping experience was also, “a great success both operationally and in terms of the response from customers,” says Zeitsman.

“Close to 10 000 South Africans joined the Live Shopping streams with over 7,000 coupons issued to shop booster deals across top brands.”

At this 24-hour live streamed shopping event, the top selling items were Hisense TVs, while the fastest selling streams featured Under Armour products.

“Ultimately, Black Friday has confirmed once again that South Africans actively look for unprecedented value and deals that are customised to their lifestyle and budget, together with superior shopping experiences,” the Takealot CEO concludes.

[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]