Shopping malls nationwide are noting that Israelis chose to spend Election Day, a national holiday, giving their credit cards some exercise.
According to data from Shva, which operates national credit card payment processing systems, starting from 10 a.m. Tuesday, credit cards were already in heavier use than usual, with a number of credit card transactions similar to what is typically seen on Fridays, when most Israelis don't work.
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The three hours from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. saw a 20% increase in credit card use compared to Tuesday, April 9, the date of the election for the 21st Knesset.
Over 7,500 credit card transactions per minute were logged between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m., with over 450,000 transactions that day.
Shva said that in anticipation of Election Day shopping, the company had brought on extra staff.
Arnon Toren, CMO of the Azrieli Group and manager of the Azrieli Center, said, "By early afternoon, over 220,000 people had visited the group's shopping malls. We expected that by the end of the day, about 1 million people will visit our malls, 3.5 times the traffic we see on a regular day."
Hazahav Mall in Rishon Lezion saw an all-time high number of 60,000 visitors on Tuesday. On April 9, 52,000 people visited Hazahav Mall.
Hazahav Mall CEO Yossi Lagziel noted that the mall saw twice the number of sales it sees on an ordinary weekday.
The Café Café restaurant group announced that its 15 chains of cafes and restaurants saw nearly a 200% increase in customers compared to a regular weekday.
"We scheduled larger staffs than usual ahead of time, and most of the traffic was in shopping centers. The [chain's] cafes and restaurants were jam-packed, which led to longer wait times for tables," said the owner of the Café Café Group Ronen Nimni.
"Our franchisees reported that the busiest hours were from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the most popular order was the 'Israeli breakfast,'" Nimni added.
