New analytics from Lightstone Retail show that Black Friday in South Africa has firmly shifted from a one-day retail rush to a full-week shopping event, with consumers spreading their spend, planning more intentionally, and arriving in greater numbers but staying for less time.
Using South Africa's largest and most representative anonymised mobility dataset from Tracker, analysed by Lightstone, we measured vehicle-based mall visits only. "South Africans are no longer treating Black Friday as a single shopping event, it has evolved into a full-week retail season," says Mohit Narotam, Managing Director at Lightstone Retail.
"Our mobility data shows people are planning more, visiting earlier, and distributing their spend across multiple days. The drop in dwell time reinforces this shoppers are arriving with a clear mission. Retailers who prepare for a week-long surge, not just the Friday, will win in this new behavioural pattern."
Black Friday 2025: Key Insights from Vehicle-Based Trips
1.Black Friday Week up 30% year-on-year
Although Black Friday Day itself recorded 5% fewer vehicle trips compared with 2024, the week of Black Friday grew by 30%, showing that shoppers are responding to early specials and extended promotions across "Black November", "Cyber Monday", and hybrid weekend deals.
In 2024, 23% of all Black Friday Week mall trips occurred on the Friday. While in 2025, that proportion dropped to 17%, confirming that South Africans are intentionally spreading their shopping across multiple days.
2.Total movement remains huge: 4.8 million trips on the day
Lightstone Retail estimates 4.8 million vehicle trips to malls on Black Friday 2025, and 28 million trips across the full week.
3.Dwell times dropped sharply: 65 minutes to 50 minutes
The average dwell time on Black Friday fell from 65 minutes in 2024 to 50 minutes in 2025. This suggests more purposeful shopping, which may be driven by online pre-searching and price comparison, shoppers walking in already knowing where to go and faster in-store decision-making.
4.Shopper profiles did not shift dramatically
Because this dataset excludes pedestrians, it reflects middle-to-higher-income shoppers arriving by car. The demographic profile on Black Friday was broadly similar to a normal month-end Friday, with only a slight increase in lower-income visitors and a slight decrease in higher-income visitors- nothing dramatic or disruptive.
5.Big movers: Super-Regionals all grew for the week
Across South Africa's super-regional malls (100 000+ sqm): All recorded higher Black Friday Week visits compared with 2024. Some but not all saw increases on the day itself. Fourways Mall stood out with almost 20% more day-of visits, and over 50% growth across the week.
6.Regionals saw standout growth with Clearwater up 60%
Among regional malls (50 000-100 000 sqm): Hemingways and Mams Mall saw around 15% growth on the day. The strongest weekly growth came from Clearwater Mall, up 60% year-on-year - potentially supported by the Walmart launch. East Rand Mall, Mall of the South, Baywest Mall, Hemingways, and Mams all recorded weekly gains above 50%.
7.Smaller malls are now firmly part of the Black Friday Week surge
Even smaller malls often overshadowed by super-regionals and regionals recorded meaningful increases in vehicle visits during Black Friday Week. This shows that the event is no longer concentrated in the country's biggest centres; malls of all sizes are now participating in and benefiting from the extended week-long shopping period, signalling a broader national shift in shopper behaviour.
"We're seeing shoppers becoming far more intentional in how they approach Black Friday," says Tamaryn Shalom, Head of Innovation at Lightstone Retail. "The shift toward a full-week shopping pattern isn't a once-off spike, it's a behavioural evolution. For retailers and mall owners, understanding this movement is critical. Those who plan their operations, stock, and marketing around the extended week not just the Friday will be best positioned to capture the opportunity."
