Black Friday undoubtedly affects employees’ focus at work,” said Matthew Leighton, the spokesman for South African e-tailer, OneDayOnly.co.za .

While it started as a post-Thanksgiving blowout sale by US retailers, Black Friday has become one of the most significant calendar days for consumers and the retail industry globally. 

According to OneDayOnly.co.za latest statistics, last year over 150,000 website users were recorded on Black Friday alone. The average figure for a regular day is around 60,000 and on a high traffic day such as payday it reaches approximately 80,000.

Although the sale starts at midnight people are online throughout the day and data from last year shows traffic on OneDayOnly.co.za spiking primarily during the core working hours of 6am, 8am, 11am and 3pm, said Leighton.

He added that the average user session, or time people spent on the site at any one point, was three times longer on Black Friday than any other day. 

“In addition to spending longer on the site on Black Friday, customers also return many times during the day, so these longer sessions happen numerous times during the workday.”

But while Black Friday may result in the odd deadline being missed, Leighton believes the overall impact on the economy was an extremely positive one.

“Last year we saw people spending in the region of R1,300 on Black Friday, compared to an average of R970 on other days. According to BankServ, South Africans’ card transactions came up to R3 billion on the day last year, up 16 percent from 2017. That’s a nice injection into an otherwise depressed retail sector,” he explained.

Leighton further said people love Black Friday because there was something in it for everyone, but there was also nothing to lose except for maybe a bit of work time. 

“With so many more products available at low prices, it makes sense to peruse. If you find nothing you like, you are not worse off. And your boss doesn’t have to be either if you’re proactive and shop before work when our doors open at midnight.”

African News Agency (ANA)