South African telcos are gearing up for a boost in online purchases on what is considered to be the biggest shopping day of the year: Black Friday.
In the run-up to Black Friday on 25 November, Cell C, MTN, Vodacom and Huawei have been offering early discount deals in attempts to gain the biggest number of customers on the day.
Black Friday is traditionally the day after Thanksgiving in North America, which marks the day when retailers move into profitable territory (the black).
The trend has been embraced globally in recent years and is regarded as the start of the festive shopping season.
While retailers like Shoprite, Pick n Pay, Makro, Checkers and Game are expecting thousands of walk-in consumers, new research by Payflex shows customers are planning to spend more online this festive season than last year, with online spend likely to triple over last year.
A Vodacom spokesperson tells ITWeb that since the start of its Black November campaign on 4 November, the telco has seen a huge increase in customers using its online and physical stores, which include VodaPay, the VodaBucks Store, as well the Midrand flagship store in Vodacom World.
Vodacom’s Black Friday deals include slashed prices on mobile and fibre contracts, tech wearables, contract bundled deals with laptops, routers, gaming consoles and accessories.
“This Black November, Vodacom promises customers up to 75% off, through a series of weekly deals, as part of our commitment to keep customers connected to the digital economy.
“In the online channel, we have seen a 66% improvement in website traffic and a similar growth in sales when comparing to prior periods,” says the Vodacom spokesperson.
Simo Mkhize, chief commercial officer at Cell C, says the telco remains committed to bridging the digital divide through cost-effective connectivity solutions.
Cell C started to run its specials from 18 November, and will continue until 30 November, through its retail outlets and a dedicated Fantastic Black Friday online store.
“We anticipate a lot of interest on the Cell C Home Connecta fibre deals due to the 100% promotional discount that is being offered, as it will afford our customers payment relief for three months,” notes Mkhize.
“Device deals that we think customers will be keen to take up are the Samsung Galaxy Flip 4 deal for R699 and R499, for 24 and 36 months, respectively, and double device smartphone deals from Vivo, OPPO and Samsung.”
MTN SA says it has lined up a series of deals for customers, which will run until 4 December, including up to 60% off on a number of PayAsYouGo, MyMTN Home, MTN Business and MTN contract deals.
“After another long, hard year, everyone needs a win − and we are playing our part by rewarding our customers simply for being on the MTN network,” says Ernst Fonternel, MTN SA chief consumer officer.
“Our Black Friday deals are a true reflection of the innovation that goes into creating offers that cater to our customers’ changing needs and budgets.”
Huawei says it has cut its prices by up to 40% on items such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops on the Huawei online store.
”Customers can save up to R3 499 on Huawei Black Friday deals on MTN, Telkom and Cell C contracts, and receive a free Huawei T10s tablet when purchasing the Huawei P50 or Huawei P50 Pocket,” says Huawei.
The telco previously told ITWeb that sales on the Huawei online store had increased by 805%, when the lockdown period awakened SA’s appetite for online shopping.
With Black Friday being a popular time for bad actors to engage in fraudulent activity, the telcos say they have beefed up their security controls across their e-commerce channels. They have also put measures in place to avoid any infrastructure downtime.
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