‘Flop’ as Black Friday blues hits the malls amid coronavirus crisis
IN SHARP contrast to the usual Black Friday frenzy that unfolds at the country’s malls, this year’s much-hyped shopping weekend was a flop.
BankservAfrica, an automated clearing house in Africa, said it tallied its Black Friday numbers and found that by 6pm on Friday, in-store purchases broke through the 2019 mark, increasing by 3% and reaching 370 609 transactions (2019: 360 581).
Most in-store purchases were on credit card, at 3 141 384 in total.
But by Saturday evening shopping had wound down, bringing the total in-store card purchases to 4 967 022 (30% down from 2019), while online sales reached 868 903 – 62% up on 2019’s figures.
“2020 has been a different year on all fronts and #BlackFriday is reflecting this too. The first few hours of the morning have been off to a slower start with transactions falling short of 2019, as seen in our hourly card and online data,” BankservAfrica said.
The South African Savings Institute said it was fine to skip Black Friday and “Blackvember”, as consumers would be financially better off for it.
Its chief executive Gerald Mwandiambira said TransUnion’s latest Financial Hardship Study shows that 77% of South African consumers say their finances continue to be impacted by the pandemic.
For these consumers, credit products are the bills most say they will not be able to pay.
These include personal loans (36%), retail/clothing store accounts (35%) and credit cards (33%).
Meanwhile, most regions reported good compliance and few instances of non-adherence to Covid-19 protocols, Local Government MEC Anton Bredell said.
He said safety authorities, including from the SAPS and the Department of Labour, were deployed across the province to enforce Covid-19 health and safety measures.
“Inspections and monitoring of large gathering places was done across the province.
“We had some isolated incidents of people overcrowding and not wearing masks, mainly in some parts of the City of Cape Town, but the authorities swiftly clamped down and – working with shop owners and managers – managed to address the problem areas. We want to thank the public and all stakeholders,” Bredell said.