At least for one global payment processing platform, the sales and transaction numbers set some year-on-year records

For various economic and cultural reasons, the Black Friday to Cyber Monday shopping season that started in the United States has evolved into a worldwide e-commerce event.

Merchants with the right marketing strategies and reach usually aim for record-breaking sales, driven by growing cross-border payments, diverse payment methods, and accessibility of crypto transactions. Consumers hit by high inflation rates and the drive to seek super bargains also tend to withhold spending until this four-day period.

This year, for the period from Black Friday (29 Nov) to Cyber Monday (2 Dec), a payment platform has reported processing 465m transactions (at 137,000 transactions per minute at peaks) and a total payment volume of more than US$31bn.

Cross- border payments had increased to a new record of US$3.2bn through a total of 43m transactions. Records were set in e-commerce, retail, and transportation transactions in the firm’s customer base.

Some 428,000 crypto transactions were also processed in 36 markets during that period, with customers in US, Germany, France, Great Britain, and Spain accounting for the most processed crypto activity. 

Other numbers at a glance:

  • 209m unique payment methods used
  • Top-selling cities were Seattle, New York, Los Angeles, London, and San Francisco.
  • US$121 average spend per card/wallet
  • Average spend per wallet was up 4.3% compared to the firm’s 2023 numbers
  • Top currency volumes: US Dollar, British Pound, Euro, Australian Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Japanese Yen, Singapore Dollar, Hong Kong Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Mexican Peso
  • 20.9m fraudulent transactions totaling US$917m intercepted
  • 65m total tax calculations
  • More than 35,000 businesses had their best day ever on this payment platform, and the four-day period was the largest-ever.

According to Emily Glassberg Sands, Head of Information, Stripe, the firm reporting its findings: “Cross border payments drove more than 10% of total volume over the weekend, proof that Black Friday–Cyber Monday is no longer a US-centric in-person shopping day — it’s a global ecommerce event… businesses are expanding the number of payment methods they can accept in order to reach more consumers.”