DURBAN - As the festive season approaches shopping malls and retailers will be extending their trading hours to accommodate their customers.
Chief Economist for the Efficient Group Dawie Roodt, in a South African Council of Shopping Centres statement, said that more money was spent over the 2017 festive season compared to the rest of the year
According to Roodt, consumers spend more over the festive period because of factors like better marketing and relatively low-interest rates. He added that developments like Black Friday have also contributed to the spending binge.
Black Friday has been reported as a busy shopping day but shopping malls are still expecting busy trading days in the second half of December.
The Business Report spoke to three malls across the country to find out about their extended trading hours
Canal Walk, Cape Town
The extended trading hours at Canal Walk has already started and will run until the 23rd of December. The mall will be open until 10pm. The mall expects around 2.5 million visitors during the festive season.
Mall of Africa, Johannesburg
The newly built Mall of Africa is one of the largest malls in the country. A spokesperson for the mall said "Mall of Africa has extended our trading hours to provide shoppers with more leisure time to do their festive shopping. We can see from our trade of last year that the extended trading hours had a positive impact on our turnover, dwell time and foot count figures".
The extended hours will run from the 7th of December to January 1st with 10pm being the latest time that the mall will close.
The Mall of Africa is expecting people to spend 8 percent more in 2018 in comparison to 2017 and a 10 percent increase in foot traffic compare dto last year.
Gateway Theatre of Shopping, Durban
"We extend our hours each year to accommodate for the influx of holiday makers, patrons on leave and those who are still working, whom need the extra hours to shop at their convenience," said the Gateway.
The mall will be trading until 10pm for 2018 and expect three million people to visit the mall.