SIMON BROWN: I’m chatting to Thabo Makoko, head of Cash Management Africa at Absa CIB. Thabo, I appreciate the time today. Cash transaction volumes are finally returning back to pre-pandemic levels and those lockdown levels – which is frankly a good sign, an encouraging sign in what is a very tough economy out there for the consumer.
SIMON BROWN: I take the point on online. Certainly we’ve seen a fair surge from that. Is this a set up front? It’s tough being a consumer out there. Certainly we understand inflation, we understand transport costs. One of the points you made in the note is that work from home is perhaps actually saving people a bit of cash. We are not spending that transport money.
THABO MAKOKO: Absolutely. So we are seeing the online industry, whether it’s online foods or online shopping, your point around Sixty60, it’s sharing in the financials that they grew by 150% in terms of turnover sales in 2020 and 2021. And if you look at Pick n Pay, 72% of … growth in sales over a two-year period.
THABO MAKOKO: Absolutely. I think when we are looking at the data there, a couple of things are becoming clearer. So let’s talk about retailers. In 2017, 57% of their sales was physical cash. Today that’s now sitting in a 30%, 35% zone, which means other means of transacting are playing a role. Now, you and I pre-Covid would be comfortable to go quickly to the shop and buy something.