South Africa, Nov. 24 -- Customers will assume a very different Black Friday experience on 27 November given the Covid-19 pandemic, and their their service expectations will be higher, says Nathalie Schooling, CEO of customer experience company nlighten.

Since many will avoid physically going to the store and opt to shop online instead, there will be a demand for quality digital service. It's been nine months of adjusting to the Covid climate, and while retailers are by no means in the clear when it comes to recovery, consumer power has grown stronger and careful consideration will go into where they choose to spend their precious rands.

Schooling believes that despite retrenchments and salary cuts this year, consumers will still shop t...