[South Africa] Africa’s DPO Group reports a 35% jump in Black Friday online payments

DPO Group, a leading African payment service provider headquartered in Nairobi, has reported a record 35% year on year increase in the number of digital transactions made in South Africa on its platform on Black Friday, exceeding the company’s own forecasts. This represents a rise of nearly 500% on usual daily transaction volumes. Peak trading was a few minutes after midnight when there was a further 33% spike in digital payments. In 2018, 64%1 of Black Friday transactions were processed via DPO’s platform with the company predicting this could increase to as much as 70% in 2019. Retail sales in South Africa increased by 1,952% on Black Friday last year, compared to a global average increase of 663%.2

Eran Feinstein, CEO and co-founder of DPO Group commented, “These numbers reveal the rapidly growing appetite amongst businesses and consumers in Africa to be able to transact securely online, underlining the enormous potential of e-commerce to boost economic growth on the continent. We are also starting to see the Black Friday phenomenon gaining traction in other African countries – there was a significant increase in transactions on our platform in East Africa during the Black Friday weekend. For e-commerce to thrive, a reliable payments infrastructure is essential. Serving in excess of 100,000 merchants across 19 African countries, we are well positioned to respond to this accelerating demand, and we’re excited to see the number of e-commerce opportunities that are emerging, not only in South Africa, but across the continent.”

Data collected by PayFast, one of the largest payment processors in South Africa and also a DPO Group company, revealed that of the purchases through its systems on Black Friday alone, 61% were made via smartphones and 39% were made on a desktop (of those, only 1.5% were made via tablet).   Sub-Saharan Africa remains the epicentre of mobile e-commerce, with mobile money transactions in the region exceeding $25bn in December 2018. 3

“Kenya has led the continent in revolutionising mobile transactions over the past decade. Around 20% of adults in sub-Saharan Africa now have a mobile money account, a higher share than any other region in the world.  This access, combined with our secure and fast payment services has resulted in a huge swing towards a preference for transacting via mobile phone, illustrating the significant possibilities for business growth across Africa,” Mr Feinstein added.

www.directpay.online