Takealot wants to reinvent Black Friday in SA with new sale format

Ecommerce firm Takealot will host “a first-of-its-kind” shopping sale in South Africa this week called The Ultimate Checkout.

The retailer will take into account the highest-rated, most searched for, and most wish-listed products on both Takealot as well as its fashion and homeware site Superbalist. The products will then become part of the while stocks last sale.

“The year on year growth of Black Friday is an excellent indication of the appetite for big shopping events in SA,” said Kim Reid, Takealot’s CEO.

“Internationally, annual events such as Amazon’s Prime Day, Alibaba’s Singles Day and Flipkart’s Big Billion Days highlight the demand for tailored shopping experiences in addition to great deals.”

According to the retailer, more than 80 000 products are added to its wishlists daily, while 15 million searches are performed monthly.

The company hopes the sale will become “an annual event for both Takealot and Superbalist” akin to the success of Black Friday in South Africa, it told Memeburn in an email.

To meet the demand on the day the retailer has also “bolstered resources across the business — from our engineers and developers to customer service shopping assistants, warehouse staff and Takealot Delivery Team drivers,” it added.

“We expect to see a marked increase in traffic to both Takealot.com and Superbalist.com over The Ultimate Checkout compared to a normal day.”

The sale will begin at 12h01 on Wednesday 24 July.

Feature image: Andy Walker/Memeburn