If recent trends are anything to go by, men in South Africa are set to be the biggest spenders during Black Friday this weekend.
According to statistics compiled by Picodi.com, a global discount platform, men have spent a lot more than women on Black Friday in the past few years.
Statistically, South Africans spend R2,203 on Black Friday. However, men spend a lot more money than women during Black Friday sales.
Men spend, on average, around R2,518, while women spend around R1,713, according to the global voucher website.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that men buy more than women — they could just buy more expensive items.
Based on online search queries by the global discount platform, the Free State is the province in which Black Friday sales have increased the most in the past four years. Interest in discounts increased as much as 50% in the province.
Limpopo is placed second with a 49% increase, followed by the Eastern Cape, where the increase of interest amounted to 22%.
The least interested in Black Friday sales are citizens in the Northern Cape, where the number of search queries connected to Black Friday dropped by 33%.
Invariably, electronics are among the products which are the most popular among South Africans during Black Friday sales.
It is the most frequently chosen category of products, with 55% of consumers buying electronics, followed by clothes and then home appliances.
Groceries are ranked fourth, followed by shoes. Sports items were less popular during Black Friday, similarly to cosmetics and jewellery.
While it is unclear how Black Friday sales will be affected this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a whoppping 86% of South Africans took part in last year's Black Friday sales.
Not all shoppers, however, decided to shop on the Friday with many choosing to participate in Black Friday sales on other days.
Sixty six percent of shoppers decided to shop on Friday, but as much as 29% did their shopping from Monday to Thursday, and 32% enjoyed special offers over the weekend after Black Friday.
“Among the people who did not take part in last year’s Black Friday, the most common reason was that they simply missed the event,” said Katarzyna Kobyłka, of Picodi.com South Africa.
“Twenty one percent of people taking part in the survey said that the products that they wanted to buy were not on sale.”
“The remaining pointed out that discounts were too low (16%) or they did not know what Black Friday is at all (11%).”