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Black Friday Powers SA Businesses

South Africa’s Black Friday, Black Friday weekend and Cyber Monday delivered a strong four-day surge, with retailers and township SMEs benefiting from robust consumer demand. Standard Bank Business and Commercial Banking’s Merchant Solutions Head shares key insights.

Integrated Payments Drive Growth

Businesses offering seamless payment options contactless, online, and mobile saw significant gains. “The strength of this year’s Black Friday trade highlights both consumer resilience and the readiness of South African businesses, including township merchants, to embrace more integrated ways of transacting,” says Norman Nyawo, Head of Merchant Solutions at Standard Bank. “Our role is to ensure integrated payment readiness becomes a driver of growth, not a barrier.”

Key Highlights

  • Online Surge: Approved online transactions grew +11% YoY, driven by mobile-first shopping.
  • Contactless Dominates: Contactless payments accounted for 50% of all transactions, while online spend made up 14% of total spend.
  • Transaction Scale: Peak throughput hit up to 1k transactions per second, with an average transaction value of R512 and the largest single transaction at R1.3M.

Regional & Sector Trends

  • Top Provinces: Limpopo (+25% YoY) and Western Cape (+17% YoY) led growth.
  • Strong Sectors: Grocery (+32%), convenience retailers (+14%), and restaurants (+12%) saw the biggest gains.

“Looking ahead, early indicators suggest continued energy in the festive trading through December,” Nyawo concludes.

*All stats reflect Year-on-Year growth in value.

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