eBucks see 60% growth over festive season

Additional highlights include:

• spend redemption on fuel increased the most, by 388% year-on-year
  
• travel spend also grew by 70%
  
• just over one third of the total eBucks festive spend was spent online in the eBucks shop and with eBucks internet partners

Bucking the trend

While no 'official' retail figures for this period have been released yet, the Bureau for Economic Research (BER) / Ernst & Young Festive Season Retail survey revealed that 2011 Q4 retail sales volumes are expected to be between 5% and 7% higher than 2010 festive season sales, indicating that South Africans were conservative in their spending over the festive period.

FNB's chief economist Cees Bruggemans, further reinforced this outlook, by saying that with the energy price shocks boosting CPI inflation past 6% in 2011 and with nominal wage and salary increases slightly less generous in 2010, real household incomes grew at a slightly slower rate in late 2011.

"Yet many South African consumers clearly did not want to hold back in rewarding themselves in what - for most of them - proved to be a good year, going by FNB/BER consumer confidence surveys," Bruggemans says. "Hence all resources having been mobilised, including record use of saved eBucks, as the country entered 2012 on cruise control."

Jolande Duvenage, eBucks CEO, agrees, "Over the 2011 festive period, we noticed a pronounced change in the behaviour of our members, who are somewhat cautious about how they spend their eBucks. The R140-million spent during the last quarter strongly indicates that our members were looking for ways to extend their wallets, especially as the festive season approached. According to him, members spent on a wide range of items, including fuel, travel, gifts and airtime.

Online shopping remains popular

With technology becoming increasingly more affordable and accessible, South Africans are benefitting from the connected world through the convenience of shopping online. South Africans spent at least 30% more online in 2011 than they did in 2010, according to Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx.

"The tech-savvy maturity of our members is confirmed by the popularity of technology products in the eBucks store over the festive season," explains Duvenage. The most popular items purchased were big-ticket electronic items, such as the Apple iPad 2. Other sought after goods included a variety of everyday lifestyle products and children's toys.

Members still prefer retail stores

"We also saw a marked increase in the number of members using their eBucks cards at point of sale in our partner stores over the festive season. This goes to show that the majority of our members shopped in retail stores, where they can physically see and touch an item before purchasing it."

"Whether our members bought vouchers, extended their wallets with airtime or fuel purchases, or saved up for that must-have gadget, it's clear that our products were top-of-mind for most of our members," Duvenage concludes.