SA online retailer sees Black Friday sales soar

When comparing Black Friday weekend to previous weekends mobile transactions and visits scaled proportionally the company saw a 57% increase in sales and a 58% increase in visits, with Sunday being the best performing day out of the weekend. Mobile visits increased at a much higher rate than desktop visits. On Friday 23 November, sales went up by 114% in relation to the previous Friday's transactions. The top selling category was women's footwear, with clothing specifically t-shirts, flat sandals and pumps following closely. The men's category was not far behind with the T-shirt category performing well. Footwear was the highest grossing category overall. Top selling brands were LinX, Utopia, Zoom and Plum.

The top mobile phone device used to shop online was Blackberry, which is significant, as it dominates the handset market in South Africa. MD and co-founder Manuel Koser said, "During our TV campaign, Zando.co.za saw an increase in mobile traffic of between 100-150%." While smartphone traffic increased significantly, conversion rates on tablet devices (especially iPads) remains considerably higher than other mobile devices.

"The highest conversions are from iOS users, who generally have the biggest basket size. The capabilities of the mobile site include everything the desktop site can offer, the only differences are: simplified navigation and a design optimised for smart phones," said Peter Allerstorfer, MD and co-founder.