Loyalty programmes are firmly embedded in the shopping habits of South African consumers. Research conducted in 2025 found that 85% of adults in the survey use loyalty programmes across an average of 10.4 per household.
Rory Bosman, chief sales and marketing officer at Ecentric Payment Systems
Participation is high, but it’s only one part of the story because 40% want instant rewards for their loyalty to a brand and 28% are using the programmes to manage costs.
When wedded to the discounts that come with Black Friday/Cyber Monday, retailers are faced with a practical question – how can they ensure loyalty is rewarded easily at checkout?
Payment choice adds value
Payment choice is the first value add. During Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2025, payments made with smart devices accounted for nearly 60% of in-store card purchases, which is almost double the two years prior.
Shoppers increasingly arrive with a preferred way to pay, and this puts retailers at risk of losing the sale if they don’t have those methods in place.
Choice can also influence the size of the sale.
According to the 2026 Online Retail in South Africa report, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) works best on larger purchases from R800 to R8,000.
Ecentric’s 2025 Black Friday Index found that in-store revenue share grew faster than transaction volume, which suggests higher spend per transaction in categories such as appliances, electronics and fashion. And these are the categories Black Friday promotions target.
How far can choice change behaviour? While there isn’t much data on behaviour versus choice, a shopper who can pay in instalments is more likely to buy a bigger item or add more to their basket.
Another may pay for the same basket in a different way because they have managed their finances differently.
This year’s trading will show whether wider payment choice will adjust how South Africans spend, on what, and how.
Loyalty needs to extend beyond the sale
Loyalty is the second value add. Over Black Friday/Cyber Monday, shoppers come for the discounts and may not return once they end.
A loyalty programme that’s easy to use, structured to align with sales and payments, and gives retailers a record of who bought, what they bought and a reason for them to come back in December, is going to build stickiness into the brand.
Shoppers want rewards quickly, and when this speed of access is married to value alongside precision pricing, bundling and loyalty programmes, retailers gain customers that are engaged within payment systems that are sticky and frictionless.
Keeping checkout moving during peak demand
The challenge is delivering this stickiness when the retailer is experiencing peak demand. In 2025, Ecentric approved more than 1,400 transactions every minute, and at those volumes, every extra step at the till adds up.
Every loyalty programme requires the shopper to identify themselves, which often makes the ability to swipe a physical card more popular, as it is simpler and easier to access than an app.
When loyalty identification, vouchers and alternative payment methods run through the same integration as the card payment, the shopper can be identified, rewarded and paid in a single step.
This layer of integration keeps the queue moving and gives the retailer one record of each sale, and this also simplifies reconciliation.
Moving away from the counter also plays a role in changing how retailers make sales frictionless.
Android payment devices allow staff to take payments away from the fixed till, and this helps stores to manage higher customer numbers at peak times.
Fallback solutions that keep devices trading when the Wi-Fi goes down are also essential as they protect the sale and the loyalty points attached to it during an outage.
Preparing for a more cautious consumer
These value adds are arriving at the store at the same time as a cautious consumer.
The cost of living is high, and consumers are looking for increasingly clever ways to cut costs and stay ahead of rising bills.
If a shopper is managing a tight budget, retailers that reward purchases and accept preferred payment methods easily are creating a smoother and, at a tough time, more soothing shopping experience.
As Black Friday/Cyber Monday approaches, retailers should ask some practical questions. Can every till accept the ways customers want to pay? What happens to points and vouchers if the connection drops? Does loyalty add steps or is it part of the process?
The data can help retailers redefine their payment choices and loyalty programmes to ensure they add measurable value. And for those who want to tap into the stickiness before the sales move into full flow, now is the time to optimise and refine to ensure that systems are ready and consumers are pleasantly surprised.
