What is commerce media?

Commerce media is advertising sold by businesses that hold shopper or transaction data, such as retailers, marketplaces, payment networks and delivery platforms. It lets brands reach and measure people close to the point of purchase. A retailer’s own advertising business is called a retail media network; commerce media is the wider category.

How big is online retail in South Africa in 2026?

South African online retail reached about R130bn in 2025, up 35.4%, and World Wide Worx forecasts 22.5% growth to about R159bn in 2026. Online will average about 10% of all retail in 2026, while total retail grows by about 4%.

When are Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2026?

Black Friday falls on Friday 27 November 2026 and Cyber Monday on Monday 30 November 2026. The 365 Digital calendar recommends building audiences from 12 October, warming up from 9 November, a peak phase from 23 November to 1 December, and extending campaigns to 24 December.

Why is Black Friday now a month-long season in South Africa?

November keeps taking share from December. According to Stats SA, November took 45.9% of combined November–December retail sales in 2025, up from 42.5% in 2011. Online passed 10% of all retail during the November 2025 peak, and festive-season online spend grew 49.9% against 4.1% in-store.

What is the Signal, Sequence, Standard framework?

It is the core thesis of the 365 Digital 2026 report. Signal means planning on transaction-grade data, such as loyalty and product-feed data. Sequence means moving shoppers from discovery to conversion across channels in a planned order. Standard means measuring every network one way, with the same currency, attribution window, conversion definition and incrementality test.

How should brands compare results across retail media networks?

Agree a measurement charter before spend goes live: one currency, a named attribution window, completed paid orders as the conversion, a holdout group for incrementality, deduplication against your own order data, and fixed reporting periods. In dentsu’s December 2025 US survey, 92% of brands said measurement clarity affects future commerce media investment.

Who publishes the report, and is it free?

The State of Commerce Media in South Africa 2026 is published by 365 Digital, a Cape Town performance marketing and ad-tech agency and Criteo’s exclusive partner in Sub-Saharan Africa. The report is free to read online and to download as a 17-page PDF.

State of Commerce Media in South Africa

Q: What causes most abandoned online checkouts in South Africa?

Card declines are now the top cause, cited by 61.2% of South African online retailers in World Wide Worx’s 2026 study, up from 27.9% a year earlier. Shipping fees (51.7%) and forced account creation (43.8%) follow. Testing checkout on a mid-range phone and offering a second way to pay are the first fixes.

365 Digital

6 days ago

2 min read

The State of Commerce Media in South Africa 2026 | 365 Digital

The longest Black Friday yet: what South African data says to fix before 27 November.

South African shoppers moved online faster than budgets and measurement did. Our 2026 commerce media report shows what that means for the 27 November peak, and what to fix before it arrives.

The peak is a month, not a day

November took 45.9% of November-December retail sales last year, up from 42.5% in 2011 (Stats SA). Online passed 10% of all retail during that peak (World Wide Worx).

If your campaign switches on in Black Friday week, you are bidding blind against advertisers who started building audiences in October.

READ THE FULL 2026 REPORT

Growth is online, and it isn't close

Last festive season, online retail spend grew 49.9%. In-store grew 4.1% (Visa, via Business Day). Online retail reached about R130bn in 2025 and is forecast to hit R159bn this year, while total retail grows about 4% (World Wide Worx).

Split your budget on last year's channel mix and you under-fund the one channel doing the growing.

Your checkout leaks more than your media plan

Card declines are now the top cause of cart abandonment, cited by 61.2% of South African retailers, up from 27.9% a year earlier. Shipping fees (51.7%) and forced account creation (43.8%) come next (World Wide Worx, via TechCentral).

No amount of paid traffic fixes a checkout that turns buyers away.

Three things to do this week

Test the path to purchase. Audit your product feed and conversion tags, then run your checkout on a mid-range phone over mobile data.

Kill the blended CPA. Set separate targets for acquisition and retention.

Lock your measurement before 9 November. Agree currency, attribution window, conversion definition and a holdout group before a rand goes live.

What the report gives you

→ Plan. Build 2026/27 media plans on current South African market data, not on guessed-at norms or US benchmarks that don't reflect how South Africans shop.

→ Diversify. See where the second commerce stack sits. 26.9% of South African online shoppers buy directly through TikTok, Instagram or WhatsApp (Stitch, 2026), and informal trade sits alongside them. Stop leaving those shoppers out of the plan.

→ Defend. Take it to procurement, the CFO or the board. Every figure is sourced, the methodology is published, and the conclusions hold up.

Whats inside the State of Commerce Media in

South Africa report.

The State of Commerce Media in South Africa 2026: Black Friday & Cyber Monday Edition covers all of this, with the full benchmark tables, a dated campaign calendar, check list and eight imperatives for the peak.

Download the free PDF (17 pages)