Cyber Monday sales record for SA retailers
South African online retailers have reported record sales and traffic, having launched Cyber Monday deals following global uptake of the US-born trend.
Online fashion retailer, Style36 and online furniture, homeware and lighting store, 5rooms have both reported 6-fold growth in sales and traffic to their respective sites – totaling a combined spend of over R4-million – on the back of their Cyber Monday campaigns.
Style36.co.za and 5rooms.com are run by African Internet Accelerator (AIA) a division of Naspers/MIH.
Cyber Monday is the Monday following Thanksgiving celebrations in the US, and is pegged by marketing companies as the biggest day for online shopping, with a number of discounted deals popping up all over the web.
The Adobe Digital Index survey noted that online sales for Cyber Monday advanced 16% to $2.29 billion.
As with the trend of Black Friday – another massive sales day born in the USA – the trend for discounted deals and sales has spread beyond the Americas and has become a new marketing blitz in South Africa.
In the US, Black Friday online sales hit as much as $3 billion over two days – a 39% increase over 2012, according to analysis compiled by Adobe.
The Cyber Monday deals run by Style36 and 5rooms offered up to 80% off for 24 hours, which resulted in the sites garnering over 100,000 visits, and 5,000 (Style36) and 800 (5rooms) sales within the period – six times more traffic than a typical day, according to a spokesperson for both sites.
“Judging from the results we achieved, South Africans from all over the country are embracing online shopping,” said Remo Giovanni Abbondandolo, head of marketing at Style36 and 5Rooms.
“Cyber Monday in SA proved to be one of the biggest online events of year a promising indication as to where e-commerce is headed in this country.”
Other online retailers, such as Takealot.com and Dionwired.co.za had previously indicated that they expect the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales periods to result in the biggest sales days for the sites, as well.
According to research compiled by World Wide Worx, South Africans are projected to spend as much as R4.2 billion online in 2013 (excluding air tickets) – representing a 25% growth in the market over 2012.
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