The annual day of mass consumerism is best enjoyed when it’s at a distance, right? That’s the idea behind a new page published by PayFast, which provides real-time tracking for all Black Friday purchases in South Africa. That graphic itself is interesting because it shows off which of the provinces in our beloved country are compelled to fuel that Capitalism Beast. Surprising absolutely no-one, Gauteng and the Western Cape lead the Black Friday charge with Kwa-Zulu Natal bring up third place.

You might know PayFast as that company that facilitates an online payment system for many websites that deal with e-commerce. Considering how prevalent the system is, channelling that data into an interesting little graphic was a fun idea. We’re not exactly learning all that much that we wouldn’t have guessed already but real-time data gathering is still such a joy to watch.

PayFast and Furious

The most interesting part of the site can be found on the left of the page. According to PayGate the biggest basket (or shall we just say “bundle of goods” for the sake of simplicity) someone paid for was a whopping R299,950. Brett is convinced that belongs to someone buying the most top-tier Samsung TV possible. He’s been doing this a while, he’s probably correct.

The greatest value basket bought in the last hour (at the time of writing, anyway) was R129,000 which isn’t anything to scoff at either. Yet the best part is the list of real-time purchases constantly zipping along in the bottom. All that money being spent so quickly… it’s almost hypnotic to watch. If you want to be mesmerised by late-stage capitalism, head on over to the PayFast site and give it a gander.