Black Friday spending was forecast to be the higher in the United Kingdom (UK) than any other European nation in 2020, although total figures are expected crash in 2020 due to the impact of coronavirus restrictions and lockdown measures in place in many European countries. Following the UK, the second biggest Black Friday spender was Germany, where Black Friday weekend and Cyber Monday sales value reached 6.1 billion in 2018 and 6.3 billion British pounds in 2019. In 2020, Germany is predicted to spend around 6 percent less during Black Friday weekend.

The most popular retail event of the holiday season

Black Friday might be an American shopping phenomenon by origin, but European consumers have adopted it with similar degrees of zealotry. Across the EMEA region, Black Friday stood out among other special retail events during the holiday season in 2018. The number of daily retail transactions that took place on this day put Black Friday ahead of more traditional holiday season discount opportunities such as Christmas and Boxing Day sales. Perhaps not surprisingly, the most purchased products on Black Friday were in the tech category.

Millions of Black Friday transactions on Amazon

Black Friday is simultaneously a challenge and an opportunity for retailers, be it brick-and-mortar or online. One retailer that springs to mind immediately on this day is Amazon. In the UK, the total number of transactions made during 2018 Black Friday on Amazon’s UK platform saw a 30 percent increase from about two weeks before. On Black Friday’s twin event, Cyber Monday, the total number of transactions was just shy of four million.

Almost 140.2 thousand complaints regarding online orders made during 2020's Black Friday shopping season in Brazil were recorded on the website Reclame Aqui. This Brazilian site publicizes consumers' complaints on issues not initially solved by product and service providers A year earlier, consumers registered nearly 121.4 thousand complaints.

This statistic shows the results of a survey conducted in the United States in October 2018. U.S. consumers were asked how many different stores they plan to visit for Black Friday shopping that year. During the survey, 35 percent of the respondents said that they will visit up to one or two different stores on Black Friday 2018.

In 2024, the number of checkouts registered through e-commerce on Black Friday in Brazil added up to approximately 15.75 million, a significant increase compared to the previous year.

This statistic shows the results of a survey conducted in the United States in October 2018. U.S. consumers were asked how many different stores they plan to visit for Black Friday shopping that year. During the survey, 40 percent of the female respondents said that they will visit between three and five different stores on Black Friday 2018.

Black Friday has become a global shopping phenomenon. Between 2016 and 2020, the average number of monthly Black Friday-related searches in the United States was 366,000. This pales in contrast to the online search volume generated in Brazil, which ranks in first place with an average of 582,000 monthly searches about the seasonal shopping event.

From November 27, 2019 to January 31, 2020, approximately 8.95 thousand complaints on purchases made on Americanas.com's marketplace during the 2019 Black Friday shopping season in Brazil were registered on Reclame Aqui. Furthermore, Americanas.com's first-party sales ranked sixth with 2.8 thousand complaints, while the marketplace operations of Shoptime and Submarino had 1.86 thousand and 1.74 thousand complaints respectively. Americanas.com, Shoptime, and Submarino are e-tail brands owned by B2W, headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Reclame Aqui is a Brazilian website that publicizes consumers' complaints on issues not initially solved by products and services providers.

Sales Growth: Black Friday data was reported at 10.180 % in 2024. This records a decrease from the previous number of 15.300 % for 2023. Sales Growth: Black Friday data is updated yearly, averaging 27.210 % from Dec 2010 (Median) to 2024, with 15 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 72.930 % in 2018 and a record low of -15.030 % in 2017. Sales Growth: Black Friday data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Brazilian Association of Eletronic Commerce. The data is categorized under Brazil Premium Database’s Domestic Trade – Table BR.HF004: E-commerce: Sales Growth.

Apparel and accessories was the e-commerce category with the highest share in total retail sales in the United States as of February 2023. 18.3 percent of all retail sales in the fashion segment were generated online. The category with the second-highest percentage of retail sales in the U.S. was furniture, at 15.7 percent. At the other end of the spectrum, office equipment and supplies had the lowest share of retail sales, below two percent.

The continuous rise of e-commerce

Online shopping is on the rise in the United States. The share of all retail sales in the U.S. stemming from online shopping has increased from 4.2 percent in the first quarter of 2010 to a record-breaking 15.6 percent in the third quarter of 2023. Consequently, the sales of retail e-commerce have surged from 39 million U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2010 to more than 280 billion U.S. dollars in the third quarter of 2023. This boom is forecast to continue over the next few years, with the estimated revenue from online sales, including digital services, reaching 1.72 trillion U.S. dollars by 2027.

The king of e-commerce

In the United States, the number of online shoppers continues to grow. In 2023, there were more than a quarter of a million online shoppers, and the number is forecast to reach over 300 million by 2028. The most popular online shopping destination in the U.S., Amazon, sees a surge of shoppers during certain shopping occasions, which feature appealing bargains that encourage extravagant spending. In 2023, the biggest increase in sales occurred on Black Friday, with an increase of nearly 35 percent. Amazon's deal event for Prime members, Prime Day, saw 17 percent more sales. As for Cyber Monday, sales went up by 13 percent.

During the Black Friday week in Romania in 2020, the number of sales recorded on November 11 showed an increase of approximately 57 percent compared the previous year. Only the first two days of the week, namely Monday and Tuesday, registered negative values in the number of Black Friday sales compared to 2019.

In 2020, the number of new Zalando customers during Cyber Week amounted to around one million. This graph shows the number of new Zalando customers on Black Friday from 2017 to 2020.

Approximately 2.85 million customers made at least one online purchase on Black Friday in Brazil in 2019. That is over 18 percent more than the 2.41 million unique buyers registered during the previous Black Friday. Overall, Brazil was home to 31.4 million unique online shoppers in 2019.

On November 11 of 2024, around 487.6 million people shopped on Alibaba’s C2C e-commerce platform Taobao. The social e-commerce platform Pinduoduo received approximately 403.8 million active shoppers that day. Is China’s Singles’ Day comparable to Black Friday? While U.S. shoppers battle through crowds of equally eager bargain hunters on days like Black Friday, many Chinese consumers are content to complete their annual shopping sprees online, having their orders delivered at doors instead. Compared to Black Friday, the Singles' Day sales in China might be less physical, but undoubtedly, they are similarly intense. In 2021, the e-commerce giant Alibaba recorded a GMV of 84.5 billion U.S. dollars during the Singles' Day sales in China, nearly seven times more compared to the global sales value of Amazon's Prime Day. A day not only for singles Singles' Day was an unofficial holiday celebrated by singles in China. The holiday lands on November 11 every year, as 1 represents single. Since Alibaba started its first online shopping festival in 2009, Singles’ Day has become the most-known online shopping festival among Chinese consumers. Since 2020, the Singles' Day sales have morphed into a three-week-long sales event, starting from the end of October.

During 2022's Black Friday season retailers across Brazil sold approximately 5.19 million book copies. The revenue generated through these sales reached 213.8 million Brazilian reals, however, both these figures represented a decrease compared to the same period in 2021.

Approximately 418 thousand costumers shopped online for the first time on Black Friday in Brazil in 2019. That is around 12 percent more than the 373 thousand new digital buyers registered on the previous Black Friday. Overall, 2.85 million consumers in Brazil made at least one purchase via internet on Black Friday in 2019.

In 2023, online sales transactions during Black Friday in Colombia generated revenues of approximately 370 million Colombian pesos, representing a change of around 12 percent when compared to the prior year. Around 100 million users were expected to access the platforms to shop during the Black Friday days.

This statistic presents the predicted percentage change in shopper numbers ('footfall') on a year-on-year basis in the United Kingdom on Black Friday 2022 (November 25), split by high street, shopping centre and out of town retail locations. Black Friday originates in the United States, as the shopping day after Thanksgiving, when retailers offer large discounts, marking the start to the Christmas shopping period. In the UK, footfall on Black Friday is expected to increase all retail locations, with shopping centres displaying the greatest increase by 8.5 percent compared to 2021.

In 2020, five days of French Days accumulated approximately 43 million visits to sites participating in the French e-commerce event. Daily sales in the spring edition grew by 12 percent compared to the 30 days before the event. In the autumn edition, this growth was six percent.

Considered the Black Friday made in France, the French Days is an e-commerce event that takes place twice a year, with one version in spring and one in autumn.

Data on the 2023 edition of the Amazon Black Friday shopping event showed that the actual shopping day usually registered the most outstanding performance. Compared to the average sales of previous week, Black Friday sales increased by 203 percent in Germany. However, the increase was the lowest in Italy, where online sales incresed by 77 percent on Black Friday.

In 2019, October saw the highest traffic numbers on black-friday.de at 120,000. The website is an information source for Black Friday shoppers about shops, cities and deals.