One Black Friday shopper made a R99,036 purchase
Discovery Bank has launched its Black Friday SpendTrend dashboard for 2025, revealing that before 08:00, one of its customers had already spent R99,036 in a single card transaction.
“On Friday, 28 November 2025, we’ll be tracking the spending frenzy throughout the day, with updates every three hours from 05h00 to 23h00,” Discovery Bank stated.
The dashboard displays average basket sizes and breakdowns by age and location, as well as peak shopping times for both in-store and online purchases, with a comparison to last year’s behaviour.
It also reveals the top retail merchants and spending hotspots across major cities, as well as what people are buying, indicating the key categories driving consumer behaviour this year.
“We’ve compared Discovery Bank client spending behaviour for November 2025 month-to-date against the same period in 2023 and 2024 and identified several preliminary trends,” it said.
“Smart device payments now account for nearly 60% of all in-store card purchases, almost double the share seen in Black Friday 2023.”
Discovery Bank said this reflects a decisive shift toward frictionless, secure, tap-and-go payments using phones and wearable devices, rather than physical cards.
“Digital wallets have effectively become the default way to pay in-store,” it said. It also found that virtual cards are now a mainstream choice for online shopping.
“Nearly 30% of all online purchases by clients in November 2025 month-to-date were made using virtual cards, up from around 20% in November 2024,” it said.
“This growth suggests a shifting consumer preference for more secure digital payment methods when shopping online, especially during peak shopping periods.”
Discovery Bank also found that spending patterns indicated strong momentum heading into Black Friday.
“Transaction volumes are already ahead of both 2023 and 2024,” it said.
“Average transactions per client for November 2025 month-to-date are 5% higher than in 2024 and 13% higher than in 2023 for the same portion of the month.”
It found that the average spend per client for November 2025 month-to-date is 3% higher than in 2024.
“In-store favourites are stable, but online preferences are shifting,” Discovery Bank said.
“Long-standing in-store merchants remain stable in our rankings year-on-year, with no major changes in the top positions based on transaction volumes.”
Online, the leading merchants are broadly the same names, but there are early signs of reshuffling in the rankings — particularly increased use of international platforms.
“This points to a more globalised online shopping basket, even as every day in-store spending habits remain anchored to familiar local brands,” Discovery Bank said.
According to Discovery Bank, this matters because Black Friday serves as a key barometer of consumer trends and overall economic health.
Stats from independent sellers
Discovery is not the only company offering a Black Friday dashboard in South Africa. South African e-commerce automation company Wherehouse is also publishing data from its platform.
Launched in January 2022 by Giovanni Joubert, Wherehouse integrates with multiple third-party marketplaces and e-commerce platforms such as Shopify and WooCommerce.
The single largest purchase through its platform was a R22,999 order placed through Takealot. Makro is second with a R11,989 order, and Amazon is third with R2,799.
Currently, Takealot accounts for 91.2% of all orders placed, Makro makes up 6.3%, and Amazon is at 2.3%.
Its average basket total is R770, and the average item value across baskets is R509. The average item count per order across marketplaces is 1.51.
Wherehouse also published a chart breaking down the number of orders per hour. Although it keeps the number of orders confidential, it shows order volumes per hour relative to one another.
The chart also shows the proportion of orders placed through each of the e-commerce marketplaces it supports, including Takealot, Amazon, Makro, Leroy Merlin, Loot, and Bobshop.
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