The Black Friday shopper moved online, and started a week early

South Africa's online retail grew 35% in 2024 to R96 billion, 8% of all retail sales. World Wide Worx, a technology research firm in Johannesburg, published its annual study with Mastercard, Peach Payments and the research company Ask Afrika on 11 September 2025, and forecast that online retail would pass R130 billion by the end of 2025, close to 10% of retail, growing at an annualised 38%.¹

Where did the money go?

Over the 2025 Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend, Peach Payments, which processes online payments for South African shops, recorded sales up 93% on 2024: 2.69 million transactions worth R1.86 billion across four days. Retail's share of the online sales it processed rose 154% on the year before, and the largest single payment, R1.09 million, was for travel and accommodation.²

Discovery Bank's figures for its own clients point the same way. Online purchases made up 45% of all Black Friday card spending, and online card transactions ran 45% above a typical last Friday of the month. People bought more often and spent a little less each time: the average online transaction fell 9%, and the average in-store transaction fell 3%.³

When did the season start?

Earlier than the day that names it. First National Bank reported that spending in the week before Black Friday rose 25% in 2024, against 7% the year before. Its online transaction values rose 37% that year and volumes 76%, and online purchases made up 42% of all its credit card spending.⁴

Online shoppers also kept their own hours. Only 54% of Discovery Bank clients' online Black Friday spending happened during normal store hours, against 77% of in-store spending.³

The season now begins a week before the day that names it.

How did people pay?

With their phones, and in instalments. At Peach Payments, the rand value of buy now, pay later purchases grew 753% on the year before, and Apple Pay transactions grew 549%.² First National Bank's virtual cards, card numbers that live in a banking app, were used 59% more in 2024 and carried more than R600 million of Black Friday spending.⁴

Who else gained?

Neighbourhood businesses. Capitec, a South African retail bank, processed 55 million transactions worth R25.3 billion over the 2024 Black Friday weekend. Merchant turnover rose 71% in Soweto, in Johannesburg, 68% in Tembisa North, east of Johannesburg, and 57% in Khayelitsha, in Cape Town, compared with a standard November weekend.⁵

For sellers planning 27 November 2026

The figures point to three practical choices, and they are this journal's reading of the data. Adverts start the week before Black Friday rather than on the day. Checkout pages work on a phone and accept digital wallets and instalments. And shops stay open online after hours, because the evening is when a large share of online buying happens.