Online sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2018 exceeded figures for 2017, according to BankservAfrica, Africa’s largest automated payments clearing house.

The group said that it processed a total of 581,189 online transactions over the weekend, with 404,594 online transactions recorded on Black Friday (a 55% growth on 2017 ‘s 260,552 transactions) while Cyber Monday hit 176,595  transactions – up 36% from 2017 (129,458).

The most expensive transaction for Black Friday was over R6 million, while for Cyber Monday this reached R5 million.

South Africans also took to online shopping earlier for Black Friday peaking at 08h00 – 09h00 , while Cyber Monday shoppers started a bit later at 10h00 – 11h00.

The average number of transactions per minute peaked at 695 on Black Friday, and averaged at 281 per minute on the day.

Cyber Monday was less active, peaking at 277 transactions per minute and averaging 125 per minute for the day.

“This year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday figures surpassed 2017’s with more South Africans taking to online to do their transactions,” said Martin Grunewald, executive head: Payments Business at BankservAfrica.

“The year-on-year growth certainly reflects the growing popularity of these major shopping days despite the tougher economy experienced.”