In South Africa, the “long weekend season” (March–May) isn’t just a blip on the radar, it’s a mini-festive season. But if you’re only showing up when the chocolate eggs hit the shelves, you’re missing out on a massive opportunity.
The data for Easter 2025 tells a specific story:
- +11% increase in transaction value
- +10% rise in transaction volumes
- +5.1% jump in retail sales
But here’s the interesting bit: it’s a “front-loaded” spike.
Transactions peak in a frenzied 48-hour window (usually the Thursday before Good Friday). However, the decisions happen weeks before. People don’t “accidentally” host an Easter lunch or “suddenly” find themselves on the beach in Clifton.
The real opportunity isn’t just the retail transaction; it’s the intent surrounding all long-weekend activities
Where the Money Moves
Long weekend spend isn’t concentrated in one category but rather spreads across multiple behaviours happening at the same time.
Groceries & Food
A 2.6% uptick driven by "braai" culture, easter feasting and hosting.
Confectionery
52% market share belongs to chocolate, but seasonal gifting is becoming more premium.
Alcohol
Daily spend doubles compared to normal trading days reflecting the increase in social activity and hosting.
Fashion
A double-digit uplift as consumers use the long weekends to swap summer gear for autumn wardrobes.
Travel & Fuel
Massive volume in short and long-haul trips indicating high intent for all things travel related
5 Personas to focus on
Firstly, why target personas over specific behaviours?
Because it allows you to capture linked behaviours across multiple industries. You’re not targeting a shopper, you’re targeting a predictable chain of purchasing moments.
Here are Flow’s recommended personas for the long weekend season, and the audience combinations that bring them to life:
🧺 The Staycationers and Easter Hosts:
Families stocking up on groceries, liquor, and home decor. They aren’t leaving town; they’re bringing the party to them.
Reach them by targeting:
- Bash Shoppers browsing furniture, décor, storage solutions and home essentials
- Liquor.co.za – shoppers across categories
- Mothercity Liquor – shoppers across categories
- Hirsch’s – homemakers from casual browsers to active home upgraders
- BNPL users shopping for furniture, home décor, kitchenware and household upgrades
- SnapnSave shoppers buying everyday essentials
- Zapper Users buying groceries, fuel and essentials
- ODO shoppers exploring deals on pantry goods, snacks, drinks, and meal kits
🚗 The out-of-towners:
Travel in particular surges across SA between road trips and quick weekend getaways. They signal a need for flights, accommodation, dinner bookings, car check-ups, snacks, and mid-trip dining.
Reach them by targeting:
- Zapper users spending on restaurants, food and beverages
- Supa Quick website browsers and high-intent shoppers
- Tiger Wheel & Tyre wheel and tyre shoppers
- The Capital Hotels guests and travel enquirers
- High-intent travellers browsing CemAir flights
- Engaged diners actively researching, planning or booking restaurants through Dineplan
- Zapper Users buying groceries, fuel and essentials
🥂 The Social Bunnies:
High-intent restaurant bookers and event-goers. They are spending their long weekends enjoying everything SA has to offer from new restaurants to wine festivals to concerts in the park.
Reach them by targeting:
- Zapper users spending on restaurants, food and beverages
- Howler ticket buyers for live music events, large-scale festivals and headline entertainment
- Bash shoppers browsing and buying fashion, apparel, footwear, and accessories
- Ticketpro event browsers, from live concerts to sports, theatre, and festivals
- Octiv users booking social or outdoor fitness classes like swimming, hiking and dance classes
- Engaged diners actively researching, planning or booking restaurants through Dineplan
🧥 The Seasonal Switchers: Fashionistas browsing autumn collections. This is a “wardrobe reset” moment.
Reach them by targeting:
- Bash shoppers browsing and buying jewelery, fashion, apparel, footwear and accessories
- Shoppers browsing or purchasing beauty products, clothing, footwear and accessories using BNPL options
- ARC shoppers buying fragrance, skincare and other beauty products online
- OneDayOnly shoppers looking for deals on fashion, beauty, shoes, luggage and bags
The Payday Navigators: Budget-conscious shoppers looking for deals and using BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) to stretch their long-weekend celebrations.
Reach them by targeting:
- BNPL users shopping for their favourite purchases – from home and fashion to cosmetics, electronics and more using flexible payment options
- Shoppers using Hellopeter to browse and review everyday essentials, home goods and lifestyle brands
- PriceCheck users comparing deals, searching products, or checking reviews
How to capture the full long weekend opportunity
1. Fail to plan and you’re planning to fail
Tapping into long weekend behaviour takes planning.
Mapping out which audiences to use (and how to use them) moves you from targeting, to targeting aligned to your marketing objectives.
👉 Use the Flow Audience Planner to build a strategy based on objectives, not just guesswork. As you browse audiences, simply add the ones that align with your campaign objectives and start building your plan in real time.
FLOW AUDIENCE PLANNER
Turn your audience selection into a clear, approval-ready campaign plan
- Create multiple audience plans
- Compare size, intent and funnel stage in one view
- Share and export plans for faster feedback and approval
2. They’re not just buying Easter eggs
The opportunity extends far beyond retail.
Long weekends drive:
✈️ Travel planning and bookings
🍽️ Restaurant reservations
🥂 Hosting and entertaining
🛍️ Seasonal lifestyle spend
Why does this matter?
Each of these behaviours signals a high-intent moment – relevant to a wide range of products and services, not just retail.
You don’t have to sell Easter eggs to capture the spike in spend.
Now you’re getting closer to the coal face – zeroing in on a precise target market.
3. Activate across verticals
Consumers don’t just spend in one category. So why target them like they do?
The long weekend planner hasn’t just booked a flight. They’ve signalled what comes next: accommodation, restaurant bookings, transport, and even new luggage.
The most valuable audience for your campaign is sometimes not the most obvious one.
Final thought
Long weekends are often treated as an opportunity to reach the chocolate bunny buyers
In reality, they’re dense, high-intent windows where multiple important shopping behaviours happen over a few categories.
THE PLAY
The brands that win aren’t just the ones that show up at a single point of purchase.
They’re the ones that understand what a long-weekend really looks like, and show up across the moments that mean the most to their customers.
Ready to book your Long-weekend campaign audiences?
Speak to our team – We’ll help you pull a rabbit out of a hat
Explore Flow’s Seasonal Audiences
Frequently asked questions
Why are long weekends important for marketing campaigns?
Long weekends consistently drive a surge in consumer spend across multiple categories, including retail, travel, dining, and lifestyle. What makes them particularly valuable is that multiple high-intent decisions happen within a short time frame, creating a concentrated opportunity for brands to influence and capture demand.
When should brands start planning long weekend campaigns?
Brands should start planning at least 4–6 weeks before a long weekend. While transactions tend to peak just before the holiday, the decisions that drive that spend (such as travel bookings, restaurant reservations, and hosting plans) are made earlier. Early planning ensures your brand is present while intent is forming.
What audiences should brands target during long weekend periods?
Rather than focusing only on retail shoppers, brands should target behaviour-led audiences such as staycationers and hosts, travellers and road trippers, social and dining audiences, seasonal shoppers, and budget-conscious consumers. These audiences reflect the different ways people spend during long weekends and allow for more relevant and effective targeting.
How do I access these audiences?
All specially curated long weekend audiences are live and ready for immediate activation in the Flow Audience Marketplace.
