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Bolt is an email company.
- Email company Bolt has reported 10% growth in travel for the first two weeks of December 2020, compared to December 2019.
- Johannesburg recorded the highest number of email trips on Christmas Eve 2019. A cyclist traveled 78.4 km on Christmas Eve to reach the mall.
- Fifty-six percent of South Africans surveyed plan to spend less this Christmas, according to finder.com.
Despite a tense financial year due to the national shutdown and global pandemic, email company Bolt has seen more than 10% growth in travel during the first two weeks of December 2020, compared to December 2019.
The company’s 2019 data revealed the top destinations for last-minute Christmas shoppers from three major cities in South Africa in the three days leading up to Christmas: Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.
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Johannesburg ranked first as the city with the most trips on Christmas Eve, with a cyclist traveling 78.4 km to reach the mall. Joburg’s most visited shopping mall on Christmas Eve was the Mall of Africa in Midrand, followed by the Maponya Mall in Soweto.
“On-demand transportation provided by email services takes the stress out of Christmas shopping as shoppers can avoid hunting and parking fights. Shoppers also choose email services as they don’t have to lugging their shopping bags through busy parking lots when they leave, “said Gareth Taylor, Bolt’s country manager in South Africa.
In Cape Town and Durban, last minute Christmas shoppers went to the V&A Waterfront and Gateway. On Christmas Eve, a Capetonian traveled 30 miles to reach the mall. In Durban, a cyclist’s trip to the mall lasted 30 miles.
It remains to be seen if last-minute Christmas shoppers will have the same energy this year, given the devastating economic effects the Covid-19 pandemic has had on individuals and businesses.
A survey by global financial comparison website finder.com, which surveyed 1,510 South Africans, found that 56% of South Africans planned to spend less this Christmas.
“Some people are cutting costs more than others. If you are still expecting a gift or luxurious meal, you may be out of luck if your donor or host is one of the 16% planning to cut their total spending by more than half. The good news is that 15% only plan to cut costs by 5%, so Christmas might not look so different after all, “Finder said.
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