The Black Friday/Cyber Monday Roundup

Posted By Peter McFarlane on November 2023

Black Friday 2023 is over. Cyber Monday is done. Is anybody else exhausted?

This year’s Black Friday had a bit of an odd feel, falling just before payday for much of the country (Black Friday 2022 landed right on payday for most), and while economic headwinds are less than favourable.

In terms of trends, it was a bit of a mixed bag, with some financial service companies and banks reporting fairly static transaction rates compared to last year, while others saw improvements in transaction volume, transaction value, or both.

Product selection also saw some interesting variation; where previous Black Fridays were known for big appliance purchases, this year saw a turn towards essentials.

One trend that has continued from previous years is the movement away from retail: BankServAfrica, the clearing house for transactions across the country, noted that instore transactions dropped slightly compared to 2022 (although it remained healthy overall).

Given the complicated climate, it’s no surprise that Black Friday itself saw a sluggish start. However, as with many retailers, Rentoza’s Black Friday turned out to be more of a Black Weekend, as we kept the deals going right through the weekend – and customers responded. That momentum rolled into the tech-focused Cyber Monday with some new product releases and fun drops.

In the end, it was a big weekend at Rentoza HQ – not just a big weekend, but a record-breaking one.

Let’s explore the numbers.

Black Friday (and Saturday, and Sunday)

Thanks to growing awareness of the value of product subscriptions, we saw a huge upswing across virtually every metric for Rentoza, compared to last year's sales celebration. That included:

An increase in total sales of over 120%
Nearly a quarter of all sales coming from first-time customers
A more than 1 000% increase in site traffic (that’s not a typo)

Obviously, we couldn’t be happier – we put a lot of work into this year’s event, and it paid off.

In terms of trends, customers showed a big preference for smartphone tech. Our top 10 best sellers for the weekend were:

Cyber Monday

Remember what we said about Black Friday momentum rolling into Cyber Monday? We weren’t kidding.

Including new items like VR headsets and a few choice gaming laptops helped generate hype, and customers responded:

A more than 200% jump in sales, compared to Cyber Monday 2022
A nearly 800% increase in visitors to the site
More than 20% of sales going to first-time customers

As could be expected, gaming and electronics were the big sales winners on Cyber Monday, although smartphones showed up in a big way (and the Hisense combination fridge continued its popular run). Here’s the top 10:

Growing Up

Like we said at the top, Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023 was a slightly strange one. General economic anxiety and the timing of the day meant previous trends didn’t quite pan out.

However, for Rentoza the weekend was one of going from strength to strength. Not only did we outperform the market at large, we broke just about every record on our own books.

How’d we do it? By focusing on the most important thing to our customers: Value. We truly believe in the value that product subscriptions offer. The ability to enjoy flexible, affordable access to tech and appliances that would otherwise be out of reach is key to our philosophy. It’s always nice to know that customers agree.

Because commitment is messy. Just Rentoza it.