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Black Friday is a busy bargain day, especially online

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Black Friday is a busy bargain day, especially online, with around 55% more online payments by credit card and iDEAL than on a normal Friday. Their total value was as much as 70% higher. At physical shop checkouts, debit and credit card payments were around 10% higher than on a normal Friday, with a total value 15% higher.

Shopping center with Black Friday signs announcing 70% and 50% discounts, with shoppers and festive decorations in the background.

Black Friday originated in the United States as a bargain day in physical shops, before online shops existed. US online shops therefore created Cyber Monday as Black Friday’s online counterpart. Online shops now benefit more from Black Friday than physical shops do.

An estimated 20.5 million debit and credit card payments were made in physical shops on Black Friday this year, with a total value of around €588 million. Online, an estimated 6.43 million credit card and iDEAL payments were processed, with a total value of approximately €550 million.

Compared with 2021, more purchases were made both online and at points of sale on Black Friday, for higher total amounts. Compared with 2019, the last year before the coronavirus pandemic, only online payments increased in number (+60%) and value (+85%) on Black Friday. The number and value of debit card payments at physical points of sale this year were roughly 5% lower than in 2019.

On average, roughly a quarter of all iDEAL payments are made in online shops, in e-commerce. Around a quarter are for mobile payment requests, such as Tikkies, and half are for other online payments, including municipal taxes, online invoices and topping up mobile phone credit. However, the differences between the festive period and ordinary days can be attributed entirely to e-commerce.

International Card Services (ICS Cards), a leading credit card issuer in the Netherlands, reports on its own website how its customers used their credit cards around Black Friday . About 8% of all purchases from online shops are paid for by credit card. Credit cards account for around 15% of online-shop turnover because they are used mainly for more expensive online purchases. (Source: Thuiswinkel.org )

Around the festive period, the Dutch Payments Association reports estimated daily transaction volumes and values for debit cards, credit cards and iDEAL. The estimates are based on measurements by payment processor Worldline , credit card issuer International Card Services and Currence , the owner of the iDEAL online payment method.

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