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Black Friday and Sinterklaas debit card payments match previous year

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The number of debit card payments at Dutch shop checkouts around Black Friday and Sinterklaas was comparable to the same period the previous year.

Hand holds a smartphone against a payment terminal for a contactless payment, while an employee holds the device in a professional environment.

Compared with two years earlier, before the COVID-19 pandemic, up to 20% fewer debit card payments per day were made at the point of sale during this period. The estimated number of cash payments at shop checkouts has also fallen sharply since then, by approximately 30%.

18.5 million debit card payments on busiest day

The busiest day for debit card payments was the Saturday after this year’s wet and cold Black Friday, with approximately 18.5 million debit card payments worth an estimated €558 million. This was more than 5% fewer than on the same Saturday the previous year. Two years earlier, in 2019, Black Friday itself was the busiest day, with 21.1 million debit card payments worth approximately €634 million.

On the Saturday before Sinterklaas, the number and value of debit card payments were virtually the same as on the Saturday after Black Friday. Estimated turnover throughout the period was up to more than 5% lower per day than the previous year. Only on Saturday 4 December was turnover slightly higher than on the comparable Saturday, 5 December, the previous year (+5%).

Compared with a normal week in November that year, the number of debit card payments was 0% to 15% higher per day. Turnover was 5% to 25% higher per day than on the same days in a normal week.

Retail sectors

These retail sectors performed best on Black Friday:

On the Saturday before Sinterklaas, these were mainly:

Online shopping frenzy

Payment method iDEAL and credit card issuer ICS reported considerably higher numbers of online transactions around Black Friday and Sinterklaas than on normal weekdays and in the previous year. Partly because of the poor weather and the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, both major shopping days were primarily an online shopping frenzy that year.

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