‘Electronic items expected to trend’
By Orrin Singh
Despite the pinch on the pockets of South Africans, entertainment and power supply items are predicted to top the list of most sought after items by South Africans this Black Friday.
TVs, gaming consoles, rechargeable LED lights, laptops and powerbanks for wi-fi/mobile routers are five of the main products predicted to be on the wishlist of many South Africans.
Tech expert and founder of World Wide Worx, Arthur Goldstuck, said electronic items, many of which would help ease the burden of load-shedding, were expected to dominate this year.
He said consumers were expected to go beyond inverters to keep lights and devices going.
“Rechargeable LED lights, ranging from light bulbs in lamps to stand-alone LED desk lamps, will become shopping list regulars but will explode on Black Friday. Laptops with longer battery life and bigger screens, powerbanks for wi-fi routers, and mobile routers will be big in search, if not in stores. The idea is to keep work, entertainment and lights going during load-shedding.”
Goldstuck says televisions remain hot ticket items.
“Black Friday is always a bonanza time for TV buyers, and we expect the category to dominate this year. It will be led by three drivers: smaller units plunging in cost; ultra-large-screen TV becoming affordable; and new display technology coming to lower cost devices.”
He added that gaming consoles would also be highly sought after, driven by both availability and non-availability of PlayStation 5.
“In terms of the former, all available units will be snapped up. In terms of the latter, lack of availability means there will be demand for alternatives, specifically Nintendo Switch and XBox.”
Sue-Anne Jones, general manager for Makro Springfield, confirmed Goldstuck’s predictions, saying this year’s catalogue was based on electronic items that are expected to trend.
“High-end large screen TVs, laptops, gaming consoles (PS5) and large appliances (fridges, washing machines) are some of the items we expect to trend this year and what we have based our Black Friday specials on,” she said.
But a recent survey by Debt Rescue reflected the financial plight of South Africans, with 84% of consumers stating they will bargain-hunt for everyday necessities like food and toiletries during Black Friday.
Close to 5,000 people participated in the Debt Rescue Black Friday poll, with 62% stating they plan to spend less this Black Friday compared to last year, with 52% planning to spend under R1,000.
Statistics from Shoprite Holdings’ sales last year show groceries still remain a top seller.
Last year Shoprite, Checkers and Checkers Hyper supermarkets served on average 240 customers per second, and sold:
- Enough custard to make 2.2-million trifles.
- Enough Coca-Cola to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
- Enough instant coffee to make 68-million cups of coffee — that’s more than a cup per person in South Africa.
According to Black Friday Global, a site that monitors Black Friday trends across the world, the peak shopping activity takes place between 8am and 11am in SA.
“On average South Africans buy 4.5 products and spend about R1,735 per person in both online and brick-and-mortar stores.
Google Trends data for SA from November 19 to 30 2021, showed one-third of all queries related to Black Friday sales were recorded on Friday, November 26, (30.4% ). Nevertheless, the interest of customers starts to grow on Wednesday and fades on Saturday, a tendency which is characteristic not only for South Africa but for other countries too.
According to PayFast’s BFCM tracker, a live payment data dashboard that monitors purchases made through its platform, the largest transaction value for Black Friday last year was R169,855.
“The average basket size was R1,208, slightly lower than 2020, which recorded an average of R1,243 per basket.”
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