<strong>Consumers spent big on groceries, entertainment and fuel in December</strong>
With Janu-worry drawing to a close, and as South Africans recover from the traditional spending over the December holiday period, BankservAfrica’s Point-of-Sales (POS) transactional data showed how the spend varied among cost-conscious consumers. “The total spend during the month amounted to R100 billion as volumes reached 142 million in December,” says Solly Bellingan, Head of
<strong>Consumers spent big on groceries, entertainment and fuel in December</strong>
With Janu-worry drawing to a close, and as South Africans recover from the traditional spending over the December holiday period, BankservAfrica’s Point-of-Sales (POS) transactional data showed how the spend varied among cost-conscious consumers.
“The total spend during the month amounted to R100 billion as volumes reached 142 million in December,” says Solly Bellingan, Head of Customer Relations at BankservAfrica.
Grocery stores and supermarkets received the most consumer spending at R26 billion, followed by betting outlets (including lottery tickets, casino gambling, and off-track betting) at R11.7 billion, service stations at R9.2 billion, non-financial institutions (foreign currency exchange and money orders) at R3.5 billion, and family clothing stores at R3.1 billion.
The busiest shopping places were grocery stores and supermarkets (45 million); service stations (12.8 million); eating places and restaurants (8 million); miscellaneous food stores and fast food outlets (7.5 million).
“Following the challenging year for the economy and households, our data show the total value of spending was only 7% higher than the previous year’s while the volumes had grown by 17%,” says Bellingan.
According to BankservAfrica’s Integrated Cash Management Service (ICMS) statistics, the amount of cash circulating in South Africa in December 2022 totaled R84 billion, reflecting the combined total of physical cash orders by commercial banks for their respective ATM and branch networks. Despite a 6% drop from R89 billion in December 2021 due to 19 working days in 2022 against 21 in 2021, cash remained in strong demand.
“One of the peak days was 15 December, ahead of the Day of Reconciliation, with cash orders to the value of R8 billion placed. On the other, orders worth R7.9 billion occurred on 23 December, during the Christmas shopping rush,” ends Bellingan.
