Black Friday is the most awaited shopping day of the year. Unbeatable clearance deals and steep discounts make consumers sometimes buy things they didn’t know they needed. Traditionally, it was a one-day shopping event when people used to queue up at wee-hours outside stores to rush in as soon as the doors opened.
Over the years, Black Friday has evolved into a month-long shopping season where brands tend to offer promotions in-store and online from around mid-October till Cyber Monday (the following Monday after Black Friday).
Gone are the days of standing in long lines as shoppers are now looking forward to pre-Black Friday exclusive deals. Some even tend to shop before Black Friday, and if the price drops further, they get a price match.
Moneris is predicting Black Friday will be the busiest shopping day again this year.
In addition to being the busiest day of the year, Friday is also the busiest day of the week – a trend Moneris predictive data shows that will continue through the end of 2022. While most would predict Sunday to be the busiest day for shopping given that this is when families tend to make their way to the malls, it isn’t the case. Customers are often looking to avoid crowds, and Sunday sees the lowest spend volume.
As a general guide for shopping days, the busiest to least is-
- Friday
- Thursday
- Monday to Wednesday
- Saturday
- Sunday
The busiest day isn’t necessarily the biggest – Moneris data shows larger transactions happen at the beginning of the week.
November 21st and November 28th are neck-and-neck when it comes to the biggest shopping day in terms of the highest average transaction size (ATS). Larger transactions earlier in the week could be shoppers getting a head start on the holidays and taking advantage of pre-Black Friday volume discounts.
Not all businesses have the same busiest day of the year!
Moneris data shows during the holiday season online spend is higher for business days vs. weekends.
-For 2022, Moneris’ predictive data sees Cyber Monday as the busiest shopping day when we focus on online spending.
-While the busiest day for online spend in 2020 and 2019 were both Cyber Monday, last year, it was Giving Tuesday that saw the busiest day in terms of online spend.
Christmas falls on a Sunday this year – Moneris data shows that might be a gift for businesses.
Christmas is the quietest day of the season, and Sunday is the quietest day of the week. Having the quietest days align might make the holidays a bit easier to plan around, as there’s less disruption to customers’ weekly shopping cycle. Although, last-minute shoppers on Christmas Eve looking for gifts to fill up their stockings might drive up average transaction sizes.
