PayU GPO, the leading online payment service provider operating in over 30+ emerging markets, today releases new data on Black Friday’s impact on emerging markets’ e-commerce landscapes.  

The annual e-commerce event generated enormous sales volumes across Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe and Africa, demonstrating these regions’ value to international retailers.  

The data reveals that despite ongoing economic challenges, there were over 19% more transactions on Black Friday 2023 across Latin America than in 2022. The growth stand-out was Argentina, which saw a 104% YOY increase in the number of e-commerce transactions processed by PayU GPO.  

Chile and Mexico also reported significant YOY growth in transaction volumes, 76% and 40% respectively. Total transaction value also increased in both countries, but by less – 41% and 21% respectively, which PayU GPO’s data shows is down to an increase in e-commerce merchants including low-value goods in Black Friday promotions.  

While sales volume and total value both increased, the economic climate did impact Black Friday purchasing habits in other ways in Latin America. In Argentina, instalments payments dropped significantly due to high interest rates.  

Latin America’s growth trends were replicated across Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary), where transaction volume increased by 16%, while total transaction value increased by 5%. Average basket value also increased by 11%, from $53 to $59, due to a shift towards higher-value purchases from consumer electronics merchants.  

Romania also maintained its position as a priority for global e-commerce merchants, with over a million online transactions on Black Friday (which in Romania, took place on 10th November) – 18 times more sales than the 2023 daily average - and a 19% increase in total transaction value.  

In Africa, Black Friday e-commerce growth was impacted by the challenging economic conditions for consumers, with the number of online sales across South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya falling by 13% YOY. Black Friday remains an important retail event, however, with the number of purchases facilitated by PayU GPO on November 24th being 83% higher than the 2023 daily average.  

While the majority of Black Friday activity took place on the 24th November, many African retailers chose to extend the sales period to ‘Black Friday Week’ to drive further sales. Across South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, the total value of payments processed by PayU GPO increased by 13% compared to the average 2023 week. The vast majority of shoppers, however, waited for the day itself, and took advantage of their lunch break to do so: in Africa, most Black Friday purchases were made between 12:00-13:00 on 24th November. 

Daniel Cohen, CEO, PayU GPO comments, “It’s clear that Black Friday has shifted from a novelty event to a global shopping phenomenon. Despite challenging economic conditions, with potential to slow e-commerce growth in emerging markets specifically, we observed the contrary, with consumers taking calculated advantage of the savings provided by the annual event.”  

This year also saw a shift in payment preferences across all regions, with consumers prioritising convenience and the ability to shop on their mobile devices. In Africa, where 58% of consumers made Black Friday purchases on their smartphone, another trend emerged – a six-fold increase in the number of shoppers using a tablet. In alignment with the growing trend of moving away from cards into account-to-account payment methods, PIX, in Brazil, captured larger proportions of transactions than ever before. 

PayU GPO also saw an improvement in approval rates in many geographies, despite the huge volume of transactions and fraud risk associated with retail events. Across Latin America, approval rates improved by 4% compared to Black Friday 2022, mostly due to orchestration and smart routing strategies used by PayU GPO, while in Romania we saw a global high of 95% transaction approval.