Black Friday & Cyber Monday Sales in Europe saw 86% Increase in E-Commerce Volume

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Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) is no doubt one of the biggest shopping events in Europe. The shopping event originated from the US and has been growing in popularity ever since. 

In 2020, the pandemic-driven shift towards online shopping accelerated the growth of e-commerce. Retail brands had to quickly adapt to these changes and strengthen their digital presence to attract consumers. 

In our previous study, we found that there was a +71% increase in parcel volume in the US during the BFCM shopping event. This made us wonder: did consumers in Europe or the US shop more during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales? Let’s find out now!

Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2020 in Europe experienced an 86% increase in e-commerce volume 

As compared to the volume of e-commerce parcels before BFCM, we found that there was a whopping 86% increase in e-commerce shipment volumes during BFCM! When compared to October’s sales, indeed, Europe as a region saw a 165% increase in sales during Black Friday alone. 

How much did consumers in each country within the EU spend during BFCM 2020? By analyzing payment data, Worldline did a breakdown of e-commerce transactions during BFCM in these countries:

Black Friday

• Belgium – 40% increase in e-commerce transactions 

• Netherlands –  57% increase in e-commerce transactions 

• Germany – 50% increase in e-commerce transactions 

• Austria – 45% growth in e-commerce volume

Cyber Monday

• Belgium – 39% increase in e-commerce transactions 

• Germany – 16% increase in e-commerce transactions 

• Austria – 12% increase in e-commerce transactions 

BFCM in 2020 saw many firsts; many retailers started promotional sales early and encouraged consumers to start their holiday shopping as early as possible so as to allow logistics carriers to better manage capacity.  Indeed, 59% of consumers in Europe planned their holiday shopping before November. 

Now that 2020 has come to an end, the next big question is: will this momentum of e-commerce growth continue? Or will physical stores make a comeback in 2021? 

Note: For the purposes of this analysis, we have taken 2 Nov to 22 Nov 2020 as the period “Before BFCM”; and 23 Nov to 13 Dec 2020 as the period “During BFCM”.

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