Retailers Face Rising Pressure As Consumer Confidence Stays Negative Amid Widespread Money Stress

Sounds simple, but against a backdrop of consumer financial stress and economic instability, answering these questions has become increasingly complex.

The FNB/BER Consumer Confidence Index shows that while consumer confidence has risen from -9 in the second quarter of 2025 to -7 in the first quarter of 2026, it is still firmly negative overall and actively deteriorating for lower-income South Africans.

And according to Debt Busters’ 2025 Money-Stress Tracker, 70% of South Africans are experiencing money stress. Retailers are feeling squeezed from both sides as shoppers remain price sensitive and focus spending on essentials while operating costs keep rising. Every missed sale is a pain point.

The hidden cost of checkout friction

And what if that missed sale was entirely preventable?

This is the fourth question that retailers should be asking, and it’s one that can be more easily answered.

Customers should not be walking out of the store because payment is too complex or the wait is too long. The industry term for addressing pay point delays or bottlenecks is queue-busting, but it is almost immediately misleading.

It frames the problem as a queue management issue when it really comes down to retail design and how well the shopping journey has been designed.

When the buying journey becomes a barrier

Consider a large-format hardware retailer with a customer who wants 1,000 bricks, four bags of cement and tile spacers.

The purchasing process requires that they find a consultant who will then spend time undertaking a stock check to ensure the items are available, and then a long wait at a till point staffed by someone with no sight of the stock.

Every one of these steps is an opportunity for the sale to fail, especially in a cash-constrained market. Customers feel this friction as more than an inconvenience; they perceive it as a risk and potentially walk away from the purchase.

If the store can’t provide something as simple as a quick and easy way to order and pay, what does their delivery look like? Do they deliver quality?

Why queues are more than an inconvenience

The same logic applies to a shoe retailer, a garden centre or a specialist outdoor store. In each of these environments, the buying decision is made before the customer reaches the till.

The queue adds time, uncertainty about stock and sizing, and introduces the opportunity for the customer to leave. Every friction point in checkout is potentially lost revenue.

Globally, there have been a number of studies into the cost to retailers and the impact on the customer when queues delay sales.

One study found that people (in the United States alone) spend around 37 billion hours waiting in line every year, which means the fact that 74% walk away from the sale is hardly surprising.

The fixed till still matters – but it needs support

The fixed till point isn’t obsolete; it still plays a critical role when trained cashiers move significant basket volumes in a well-engineered queue, but it can do with some support.

The retail format that adopted the till by default because there was no alternative, now has plenty of other options to choose from. Options that can have a material impact on the customer experience.

Mobile POS is changing the retail experience

Now, think of high-volume shopping seasons like Black Friday or festive events when queues can snake around the store with wait times as long as an hour.

What if the store has invested in a mobile payment hardware solution that can take payments in real-time along the length of the queue while still connecting reliably to the retailer's existing till software, stock management system and back-end reconciliation?

In the past, mobile payment hardware was only able to take payments in isolation from the rest of the retail operation, which had a long-term impact on stock visibility and availability.

Today, mobile point-of-sale (POS) devices are a physical extension of the till point, integrated with the back-end systems and capable of providing both sales consultants and customers with immediate stock visibility insights and sales.

Putting the entire store in the consultant's hands

Going back to the hardware retailer, imagine if the entire process for purchasing cement and bricks was as simple as finding a consultant and making the purchase while looking at the stock?

A consultant who can close the order and take payment in real time because his mobile POS puts the entire store in his hands.

This level of integration and immediacy can help the South African retail structure ease some of the pressure felt by the current environment.

As customers fragment their purchases and chase price differences, retailers that hold customers with sticky experiences and delightful services are removing the reasons to leave.