UK Black Friday transactions beat pre-Covid numbers says Barclaycard

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 28, 2021

Black Friday spending volumes exceeded those of both 2020 and the pre-pandemic shopping day in 2019, Barclaycard said as stores closed on Friday.

The payments giant, which processes nearly £1 in every £3 spent in the UK, said that as of 17:30 on Friday, it had seen a 23% increase in the volume of payments compared to the same period on Black Friday 2020 and a 2.4% increase on a two-year comparison.

It came after the company kicked off the day with a noticeable uplift online too. It had earlier said that between 00:01 and 09:00, data showed a 5.4% increase on 2019, and a 21.4% rise on 2020.

There had been plenty of spending predictions but also a lot of uncertainty before the day as 2020’s Black Friday had been blighted by Covid so comparison conclusions would be tough to draw. But with shoppers clearly as enthusiastic as they had been pre-Covid, there’s clearly plenty of pent-up shopping demand still being released.

Rob Cameron, CEO of Barclaycard Payments said: “It is great to see that the trend we have been seeing throughout the day has continued, and retailers will be happy that today's trading figures have surpassed those secured in 2019 . [Retailers] will be hoping for this spending pattern to continue, not only in the last few hours of trading, and into Cyber Monday, but also in the run up to the festive season. Consumers have retained their love for grabbing a Black Friday bargain, proving this event remains a firm fixture in the annual shopping calendar.”