South Africa’s largest discovery and comparison service showcasing an extensive range of products from South Africa’s favourite and most trusted stores, PriceCheck, says this American-imported culture resulted in many shoppers buying the bulk of their Christmas presents. PriceCheck says this year serious shoppers spent between R4000 and R6000 during the annual Black Friday. Television sets, cell phones, laptops, branded sneakers, and home entertainment electronics were the most popular items. PriceCheck says that people anticipated the sale by ensuring they have a disposable income available to spend on item purchases that would cost a lot less than at other times in the year.

The service further says their online traffic received a boost of 300%, a 20% increase in new users and a 36 % increase in product searches year-on-year.  Notable too was the ratio of female to male shoppers, which stood at 55% to 45%, indicating a slight increase in female buyers as compared to last year.

It also appears that despite the relatively conservative sales reductions of around 20%-30%, consumers were well-prepared, having done substantial research and product comparisons throughout the preceding week and compiling an online ‘shopping list’ for all the items they most wanted.

OFM News/Marvin Ntsane