South Africans turned out in large numbers for Black Friday, with payment data showing a major spike in activity by midday. Around 1.5 million transactions, valued at more than R500 million, had already been processed through payment platforms Ecentric Payment Systems and Peach Payments.
Both companies provide live anonymised dashboards that track real time shopping trends, giving a clear picture of what has become one of the busiest retail days of the year. Early predictions suggest that total Black Friday spending for 2025 could reach between R146 billion and R153 billion.
Information from Peach Payments shows that the Western Cape accounted for almost two thirds of all transactions, followed by Gauteng which recorded close to a third. Activity in other provinces was far lighter.
The rate of spending was striking across platforms. Ecentric recorded an average transaction value of just over R500, while the highest single purchase of the morning reached R210 680. Peach Payments reported even larger high value deals, including a travel purchase of R378 392 and a retail transaction worth R336 262.
Shoppers began swiping as soon as the day started, with transactions being logged from midnight. The busiest period appeared to be around 11 am, closely followed by 10 am. At the height of activity, Ecentric recorded more than 1 400 approved transactions every minute, with one of the fastest purchases taking only 51 seconds.
Peach Payments noted that early morning transaction counts from midnight to 9 am have already doubled compared with last year, showing a clear rise in enthusiasm for both online and in store deals.
Online retail continues to expand, with research by World Wide Worx, in collaboration with Mastercard, Peach Payments and Ask Afrika, indicating that online sales alone could reach R130 billion this year. The sector is expected to account for nearly 10 percent of South Africa’s total retail market in 2025.
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