CAPE TOWN – South African consumers are planning to spend 36 percent more this year during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales than in 2018, according to a survey by PwC Strategy&.
The survey conducted by UK-based strategic insight agency, Opinium Research polled 1 000 South African adults between September 26 and October 4, 2019. It found that the average consumer planned to spend an average of R3 812 during the sales and 85 percent of consumers intended to buy something or would consider it if there was a good enough deal.
Research has shown that the Black Friday phenomenon, which traditionally kick-starts the holiday shopping season, has grown faster in South Africa than any other country in the world. It has snowballed into a whirlwind of big-ticket discounts across all categories, making it the most popular time of the year to splurge.
According to the survey findings, six out of 10 consumers who were planning to spend the same or more than last year were trying to take advantage of savings on offer, while 43 percent of these shoppers were hoping that more retailers would have deals this year.
The PwC Strategy& report found that this shopping event was important for several reasons: