JOHANNESBURG – Black Friday, although an American shopping tradition, gets bigger every year in South Africa. In just a few years, it has disrupted sales trends and patterns, changed consumer shopping habits, and forced businesses to rethink their year-end sales strategies and processes.
This year will be the biggest Black Friday yet. And since it falls after pay day, on 29 November, consumers will have more discretionary income to spend – and they’ve been saving for this day for months.Last year, each consumer spent, on average, R1 700 on 4.5 products. Most of these sales happened between 8am and 11am. Yet small businesses struggled to compete.
The reality is, few small businesses can match the inventory levels, buying power, or budgets of bigger businesses. Rather than trying to keep up, they should view Black Friday as an opportunity to attract new customers, delight existing ones, and focus on creating exceptional experiences.