Cyber Monday 2024
South Africa

Black Friday and Cyber Monday week: 8 days that ramp up the economy

• 13.2% of annual shopping falls on the 8-day long sales marathon around Black Friday and Cyber Monday;
• 67% of South Africans who took part in sales were satisfied with their experiences;
• Consumer complaints usually mention too low discounts and lack of attractive products on sale;
• Pandemic and unstable situation in the labour market may cool off the interest of some shoppers;

CyberMonday.Global analytics examined historical statistics about worldwide sales — Black Friday and Cyber Monday — and prepared a prognosis for 2023.

Trends in the last 10 years

With a help of Google Trends, we verified the popularity of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales in time, both globally and in South Africa.

For ten years, the interest in Black Friday sales steadily increased. In comparison with Black Friday, Cyber Monday was marginalised in the last two years, probably because Black Friday’s time frame became blurry — it is not confined to Friday anymore.

Data for South Africa shows that the peak of interest in both Black Friday and Cyber Monday fell on 2018. Although 2019 was not the best year in terms of Internet users’ activity, both events still receive South Africans’ attention. Unfortunately, the pandemic and unstable situation in the labour market and the economy may cool off the interest of some shoppers.

How do sales increase on Black Friday and on Cyber Monday?

Internal data of CyberMonday.Global platform indicates that in South Africa, on the main day of Black Friday sales, the number of transactions was 1,367 per cent higher than the annual average in 2019. On the other hand, on Cyber Monday the activity of shoppers was 189 per cent higher than the annual average.

Keeping in mind that sometimes Black Friday sales start as early as Monday, we checked how the sale looked day by day. The biggest activity was, obviously, noted on Friday — 30.3 per cent of the transactions made between November 25 and December 2 fell on this day. The Sunday after Black Friday had the least number of purchases during the analysed period. In total, 13.2 per cent of all annual sales took place during the 8 days of sales.

Did shops satisfy the clients?

We asked 19 thousand Internet users in several dozens of countries about their opinion on November sales. 37 per cent of South Africans who took part in any of the analysed events were satisfied. 30 per cent of consumers were rather satisfied. However, the proportion of unsatisfied consumers in South Africa is the highest among the researched countries (29 per cent rather unsatisfied and 4 per cent unsatisfied).

What do shoppers really need?

Statistics on Google search queries can tell a lot about South African consumers. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are usually associated with sales on electronics. However, in South Africa, it is child care articles that are extremely popular. During November sales, the demand for this category increased the most — 54 per cent compared to the annual average. A similar trend was observed in countries such as Australia, Spain, Finland, Mexico, or New Zealand.

The second category which increased the most in terms of popularity was home appliances (33 per cent increase), while electronics ranked third (29 per cent).

How much money are shoppers willing to spend?

The survey conducted among citizens od 44 countries shows that South Africans are rather frugal: we will spend R2,203 on average (around $130). People from Ukraine and Russia will spend a similar amount — $139 and $125 respectively.

Shoppers who are planning to spend the biggest amounts of money on sales come from the USA ($476), Switzerland ($454), and the United Kingdom ($430). Pakistanis and Nigerians will spend the least — $62 and $67.

Methodology

All statistical data comes from Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, and Picodi.com, a global discount platform operating since 2010, which created CyberMonday.Global, a site dedicated to Cyber Monday sales. The survey conducted in September 2023.among 19 thousand respondents from 44 countries were also used in the report. For currency conversion, we used the average exchange rate from Google Finance.

Public Use

Share information about Black Friday and Cyber Monday with your readers! All the data and infographics presented in this report can be freely used for both commercial and non-commercial purposes as long as you indicate the author of the research (CyberMonday.Global) with a link to this subpage.