Retail Capital’s managing director, Miguel da Silva, says that if approached properly and managed carefully, the trading days surrounding Black Friday can provide a significant cash boost to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) — provided they are embracing e-commerce and looking seriously at social commerce. 

According to the 2022 South African Digital Customer Experience Report, social commerce is fast taking over from the traditional e-commerce world, with platforms such as Facebook and Instagram now accounting for a whopping 48% of all online purchases. Given that about 30 million South Africans, or roughly half of the population, use social media, the disruption caused by social commerce is making many business owners and brand custodians sit up and take notice.

While Facebook and Instagram dominate this new commercial goldmine, WhatsApp is also a strong contender, with more and more brands using the platform to target their markets in a personal, instant way. Thirty-one percent of respondents cited instant messaging platforms as their preferred way to shop online — a strong indication that this isn’t a fly-by-night trend but rather a new way forward. 

There is no doubt that social media is where people, and therefore potential shoppers, are hanging out. Consumers are on their phones using social media for an average of 2½ hours a day and that is why brands like Woolworths and H&M are using Black Friday as a significant, annual social commerce opportunity. 

For years, big-name brands that have eye-watering marketing budgets to own airwaves, Google and any other platform they happen upon, have had the advantage. Now, thanks to social selling, with its low barriers to entry and the cost-effective purchasing power of engagements, the playing fields have been levelled and SMEs can capitalise on direct access to consumers who are scrolling, searching and shopping. 

“With Black Friday almost upon us, followed swiftly by the festive season, this is the time for small businesses to gear up and plan, to take their piece of the pie,” says Da Silva. “The uptick in social media selling puts them in a great position to extract the most value from the festive season by using Facebook Marketplace, Google Marketplace, WhatsApp and Instagram.

“We have seen a definite trend among the small businesses that Retail Capital funds.  They are investing in social commerce — especially during the start-up phase of their businesses when cash flow is traditionally tight — to move their product and to build awareness around their brand.”  

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Following this trend are a significant number of SMEs that opened their doors during the Covid-19 lockdown and two years down the line (due in no small part to understanding and adopting e-commerce) they are thriving.

One such “Covid business baby” is repriced.co.za, a small, but growing, beauty and cosmetics business that used funding from Retail Capital to thrive during lockdown. In January 2021, founder Kyle Stevens launched his site, supported by a Facebook advertising campaign. 

“Within a day I had my first sale,” he says. “I turned a profit in my first trading month and doubled it in the next month, with the same trajectory in the six months that followed.   

“Since then, the business has shown year-on-year growth of 127%, with total revenue turnover of R1.1-million in 2021 and close to R2-million in 2022 to date. There is no doubt that my social media advertising campaigns pulled us through.”  

According to the online payments platform PayFast, the average basket size for Black Friday is 55% higher than the average basket size for the rest of the year. And some of the country’s biggest retailers are maximising their use of social commerce this year.

Mass retailer Game is venturing into social commerce via a Game-branded Roblox game. The game launched on 21 November and had already given away R30,000 by Thursday morning. The Black Friday Game game mixes South African culture and the fantastical in a challenge to race around a downtown city neighbourhood. Players can use potholes as portals, party at rooftop DJ gigs and dodge goo from exploding pigeons as they compete to get to the top of the leaderboard.

The challenge is to find eight comet fragments around the city block — and those who are able to do this in the quickest time will win real-world prizes. Each day, the top player will win R5,000 in vouchers, the second R3,000 and the third R2,000. The competition ends on 28 November, although the game will remain available on Roblox for players to enjoy.

“We are so excited about this launch, as we open up our brand to a new audience,” explains Katherine Madley, Game’s vice-president of marketing. “We have seen the incredible growth of the gaming sector globally and heard the call from consumers for brands to be more innovative in their approach.”

Madley adds that the brand plans to continue growing its metaverse-based offering and encourages consumers to keep an eye out for updates on this.

“Rather than a once-off project, we see this platform as an ongoing, integral part of our brand going forward. We are working to ensure we push this kind of innovation forward in our business and plan to grow this offering.”

The game is open to all ages; however, players will need to be at least 13 years of age to be eligible to win the vouchers, and vouchers can be redeemed on any product that Game stocks.

Discovery Bank is getting in on the game with a #discoveryhack competition on Twitter. Until Friday, consumers (you don’t need a Discovery Bank account to participate) just need to screenshot any Black Friday deal from one of the Discovery Bank and Vitality partners and tweet @Discovery_SA with the image and #HackBlackFriday. If you add a reason you love Discovery, you can win the product in your screenshot up to the value of R5,000. 

Online shopping platform Takealot is running a “live shopping” campaign on the social media platform Instagram. Every hour there will be a 15-minute slot where Takealot will issue coupon codes to the first 100 to 200 consumers who interact with the Takealot account. The coupons can then be used for an increased discount over and above the Black Friday sales prices on specific items. DM/BM