Transaction data from digital payments provider Checkout.com reveals how consumers shopped during the Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend, with international spending surging by 36% compared with the equivalent weekend in October of this year. During this particular period, Checkout.com reports that it has experienced a 62% YoY growth in the total volume of ecommerce payments processed “across its network, with record payment volumes of over $5.2 billion.”
On Black Friday alone, Checkout.com’s total processing volume (TPV) reached $1.6 billion, with the number of ecommerce payments “processed across its network growing 61% year on year.”
The peak spending hour in the UK was between 10am and 11am, when online spending was up “35.9% compared with the same period in the previous month, driven mainly by general retail, online department stores and clothing stores.”
But the most significant change in consumer behaviour was seen at 11pm that evening, as shoppers rushed “to snap up the remaining deals before the day was over – spending at this hour increased by 85%.”
Although the data showed that after “work shopping (5pm onwards) increased by 72%, total spend was highest between 8am and 12pm, with these four hours accounting for 32% of the day’s overall spend.”
On Saturday, spending rose by “26% compared to the previous month, as many promotions continued into the weekend, with general retail and online department stores as the biggest drivers of the spend.”
The biggest moment for online shopping on Saturday “was 11am – slightly later than on the prior working day – which saw the highest overall spend and the largest month-on-month increase at 30%.”
On Sunday, spending climbed 36%, with “activity peaking between 7 and 9pm. as consumers settled into their evening routines – a prime window for doom-scrolling and impulse purchases.”
On Cyber Monday, spending patterns remained “consistent with Black Friday, with the peak shopping hour in the UK between 10am and 11am – 21% higher than the same time a month prior.”
Again, retail, online department stores and clothing were “the key drivers of the peak.”
Checkout also recorded its peak “transactions per minute for the entire weekend within this hour at 10:07am, reaching 32,900 transactions per minute.”
Across the course of the day, electronics and appliances “recorded the biggest uplift in transactions, with an increase of 109%, as consumers made the most of online deals for these big ticket items.”
In the lead-up to BFCM, Singles Day (11 November) also reportedly “delivered a strong preview of peak-season demand.”
Checkout.com says that it has processed more than “50% more volume year-on-year, and consumer spend was 29% higher than the same date on the preceding month.”
Checkout.com’s research, also shows that shoppers are “increasingly turning to AI-powered assistants during peak-season events, with one in three consumers saying they would use an AI agent for Black Friday and 19% using AI tools to find discount codes and deals.”
As well as processing steady volumes, Checkout.com says it “delivered over 99.999% of uptime.”
On average, Checkout.com reports that it had processed “transactions in 304 milliseconds.”
There were nearly 100 million (total of 98.4 million) transactions that were processed this past weekend by Checkout.com, “with 62 million unique payment instruments transacted.”
This year, there were over 300 merchants who reportedly processed “more than $1 million in volume through Checkout.com. “