- Christmas and Black Friday: Close to Rs 3 billion (+21%) and Rs 2 billion (+56%) in cashless transactions
- 100% increase in transactions by QR Code
- Holiday season sees digital payments up 10%
Port Louis, January 9, 2025: MCB customers are increasingly using digital payments. The latter are turning, in fact, to the various alternatives that the bank offers instead of cash.
This movement towards cashlite intensified during 2024, with a more pronounced trend during the festive period and especially Black Friday. For the latter, the number of transactions recorded reflects a 56% increase, thus demonstrating the growing interest in this commercial phenomenon. For purposes of comparison, the increase during the Christmas period is around 21%. These data points clearly indicate Mauritians’ rising interest in digital payment solutions.
Digital transactions: figures speak for themselves
In 2024, there was an overall increase of 13% in digital transactions, while 94,000 additional customers opted for these payment methods. Another important lesson from the figures: the use of contactless payments is now more popular, with a 19% increase in 2024. Payments through QR codes are also growing exponentially, by 100% over the past year.
Black Friday and Christmas: popular shopping periods
From 1st November to 31st December, the peak purchases, especially via bank cards and QR Code, were recorded on 29 November, Black Friday, and on 24 December, for Christmas.
More specifically, a 56% increase in transactions was noted for Black Friday, for a total of 355,000 transactions.
As far as Christmas purchases are concerned, MCB customers conducted 380,000 and 414,000 transactions on December 21 and 24, which represent increases of 39% and 29% respectively compared to the same dates in 2023.
Clothing and travel
For Black Friday 2024, the average ticket size (average purchase per customer) of a digital transaction for MCB customers amounts to Rs 1,900. Although the majority of purchases were made in physical sales outlets, online transactions increased by 113%, with an overwhelming majority (87%) of purchases being made overseas, with Chinese platforms such as Temu and Ali Express in the lead.
Restaurants are making money
On the occasion of Christmas, MCB customers bought items for a total of Rs 2.9 billion through cashless means. During this period, the average transaction was of the order of Rs 1,800. The sectors with the most pronounced growth were restaurants (+27%), clothing (+23%), home furnishings (+20%) and shopping in supermarkets and other stores (+12%).
Tourism stays in the reckoning
For travel, MCB customers preferred the United Arab Emirates, India, France, South Africa and the United Kingdom. These customers spent mostly on hotel payments, medical care, electronics and clothing.
As for tourists who have visited Mauritius and opted for MCB payment methods, they hailed mainly from France, the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States. Such tourists spent mostly on supermarkets, restaurants, hotels and clothing.
Stephanie Ng Tseung, MCB’s Head of Payments, notes: “2024 confirmed a trend that we have been seeing for several years at the MCB: the gradual switch from using cash to alternative payment methods, in this case to cashlite. At MCB, we have been supporting this development for several years, both in terms of the use and also the acceptance of digital payments, especially for SMEs. This movement is accelerating and seems quite entrenched.”
She goes on to highlight digital payment options, allowing for more flexibility: “Today we offer our customers a range of digital solutions; Bank cards, the Juice app, contactless payments or payments through MAUCAS interoperable QR. We also recently launched Juice Tap, which allows you to make payments by approaching a payment terminal with a mobile phone using the MCB Juice app. Today, this entire ecosystem allows us to position ourselves as an innovative bank in terms of payments.”
