BankservAfrica data shows retailers enjoyed robust sales during the traditionally busy December holiday shopping season despite South Africa’s bleak economic environment.

• Grocery stores and supermarkets were particularly busy in December, with sales almost doubling in value to R50 billion, according to BankservAfrica.
• The value of fuel and clothing purchases fell sharply, but there was a slight rise at restaurants and fast-food outlets, the payments clearing house says.
• Cash was still in demand, with orders peaking on 14 December, just ahead of the start of the festive season break for many.
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Data tracked by BankservAfrica, Africa’s largest automated payments clearing house, suggests many retailers enjoyed robust sales during the traditionally busy December holiday shopping season.

Despite a generally bleak economic backdrop, total in-store card spend for December 2023 amounted to R112.5 billion, an almost 13% increase year on year.

Grocery stores and supermarkets were particularly busy, with sales almost doubling in value to R50 billion, while average spend per purchase increased from R580 to R1 048 for the month.

But purchases on fuel declined by 18% to R7.6 billion in December 2023, while clothing expenditure fell by 11% to R2.8 billion.

BankservAfrica said expenditure was slightly higher at restaurants and fast-food outlets in December but did not disclose a rand value.

The total value of cash orders processed through BankservAfrica’s Integrated Cash Management Service (ICMS) totalled R81 billion in December 2023, a 3% year-on-year decline.

The ICMS data reflects the combined total of physical cash orders by commercial banks for their respective ATM and branch networks.

“Despite the slight downturn, this figure remains high and shows the continuing demand for cash among South Africans,” Solly Bellingan, head of marketing at BankservAfrica, said in a statement.

“Cash orders peaked on 14 December, as banks prepared for adequate availability at branches and ATMs ahead of the additional public holiday on 15 December,” said Bellingan.

“This would have also been the start to the December holiday break for many South Africans on annual leave and school holidays kicking off,” he said. The other major day was on 23 December during the Christmas shopping rush.

BankservAfrica is mutually owned by SA’s traditional big four banks, with Absa, Nedbank, Standard Bank and FirstRand having equal collective shareholdings that amount to 92.5%.

The remaining 7.5% stake is housed in an entity jointly owned by Access Bank, Bidvest Bank, Capitec, Citibank, Investec, Sasfin and Ubank.

The clearing house does not process interbank card transactions for all the banks, which means that its December holiday sales data shows part of the picture. BankservAfrica also does not see any transactions where the cardholder and merchant hold accounts with the same bank.