Managing the 2021 Festive Season with the help of a reliable Payment Processor

As the leading payment processor in South Africa, we are confident in our readiness to support our merchants as they accommodate for the spike in consumer activity this holiday. First, let us take a minute to get a closer look at the attitudes that South African consumers are expressing towards the upcoming holidays.

It is already estimated that roughly 43% of South Africans will be making use of their end-of-year bonuses to fund larger-than-usual expenses over December. Predictions also suggest that about 37% of South Africans will be dipping into their savings in order to spend big this holiday season.

At least 77% of South Africans are expecting to spend money on gifts for their families and friends, 21% of whom will be buying personal gifts for themselves as well. All things considered; the nation’s retailers are likely to encounter no shortage of customers.

According to the findings of the 2021 Household Affordability Index, rising fuel prices and higher basic food basket costs in South Africa have made a distinct mark on the pockets of the country’s consumers. However, contemporary market research nevertheless predicts a substantial degree of consumer activity over the end-of-year holidays.

Considering what a chaotic year it has been, it is easy to empathise with the average South African’s desire to spoil themselves and their loved ones this festive season. For retailers, this is a dream come true.

This December, it is estimated that the typical consumer is set to spend approximately R6 300 more than their per-month average with roughly 18.8% of that money going towards the purchasing of Christmas gifts. This will account for the second-largest consumer expense for December after food and drink.

In comparison to the trends amongst consumers over the festive season from last year, it is predicted that there will be a 20% increase in holiday spending in December 2021.

According to the findings of the mid-year population estimates produced by the South African Department of Statistics, we can expect a whopping R252 billion injection into the local economy.

Despite the hiking prices of petrol, electricity, and food, the appetites of South African consumers have only gotten bigger compared to last year’s holiday season. Businesses must therefore be able to tend to the incoming increase in transactions. To accomplish this, they need a reliable payment processor.

With so many South Africans preparing to spend big this festive season, local retailers can expect business to ramp up exponentially over the course of this month. Millions of people will be using their leave to splurge on themselves and their families. Sales are expected to increase as gift shopping ramps up and restaurants are already preparing to cater for packed tables.

For retailers, the holiday season represents a period in which a lot of income can be generated over a short span of time. However, in order to accommodate a higher number of sales and higher transactional volumes, retailers must ensure they have a reliable payment processing partner.

When retailers are at their busiest, it creates a duty for their payment processors to support them. To be able to manage the high volumes of transactions these holidays, many payment processors are frantically putting their festive plans in order. Transaction Junction, however, is fully prepared for the days ahead.

Processing over two billion transactions per annum, Transaction Junction’s processes are already prudently designed by industry experts to cater for large transactional volumes. We are kitted to supporting millions of transactions every day and have an efficient and well-organised support system.

The only December-specific process that deviates from the norm is the organisation of the leave calendar, specifically for the team running our support system in order to assure that there is no disruption to the business of our clients. It is this unparalleled degree of commitment to our clients that makes our services such an asset during periods wherein businesses must process far more transactions than usual.

We have had no downtime for the last 8 years. This means that our clients have been able to enjoy 100% availability of our services since 2013 and nothing about that is set to change.

This December will not be any different thanks to our team’s dedication to full-time dependability and only the highest standards of service delivery. We are obsessed with innovative service delivery, a big aspect of which is the guarantee of steadfast reliability.

Our business model is designed to support large businesses typically processing millions of transactions every month. This is not to say that we do not serve every size of business. We offer smaller local businesses the exact same quality of service.

However, the full extent of our capabilities as a payment processor is realised with our larger clients – especially over this period wherein we are able to easily process massive transactional volumes as consumer activity ramps up.

Are you interested in working with us? Contact us for more information.