PODCAST | Payflex anticipates R40m-50m in online turnover on Black Friday

E-commerce buying trends are the focus in this edition of Business Day Spotlight. Host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Paul Behrmann, founder and CEO of Payflex. 

The discussion focuses on the effects of the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) model on e-commerce on Black Friday. 

Before that is a brief discussion of this week’s interest-rate decision. On Thursday, the Reserve Bank continued its interest-rate-hiking cycle, raising the cost of borrowing by 75 basis points (bps), which moved the repo rate from 6.25% to 7% — in line with market expectations.

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Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago says the latest headline inflation number was a “surprise” even to the Bank, which had expected prices to have risen by 7.3% instead of 7.6%. The repo rate hike comes despite the Bank’s reducing its GDP growth forecast for 2022 from 1.9% in September to 1.8%. 

Moving on to Black Friday, Payflex — SA’s largest BNPL provider — expects that online buying activity will triple over what happened in 2021. 

Behrmann says just over 90% of BNPL customers plan to spend more online this festive season than in 2021, while 78% plan to shop on Black Friday. This is according to a survey of more than 1,600 customers conducted this month by Payflex. 

Behrmann also shares thoughts on what Amazon’s entry into SA will mean for the local online retail market. 

Topics of discussion include details on the latest interest-rate  decision; Black Friday predictions in e-commerce; the effect of the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) model on e-commerce; the growth of Payflex’s business; and an outlook for e-commerce in 2023.